As there is no Stevens as of yet, I feel obligated to post some I know by heart (I'm absolutely absolutely crazy about his work.) Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock The houses are haunted By white night-gowns. None are green, Or purple with green rings, Or green with yellow rings, Or yellow with blue rings. None of them are strange, With socks of lace And beaded ceintures. People are not going To dream of baboons and periwinkles. Only, here and there, an old sailor, Drunk and asleep in his boots, Catches Tigers In red weather.
The Emperor of Ice Cream Call the roller of big cigars, The muscular one, and bid him whip In kitchen cups concupiscent curds. Let the wenches dawdle in such dress As they are used to wear, and let the boys Bring flowers in last month's newspapers. Let be be finale of seem. The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.
Take from the dresser of deal, Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet On which she embroidered fantails once And spread it so as to cover her face. If her horny feet protrude, they come To show how cold she is, and dumb. Let the lamp affix its beam. The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.
and part II of Le Monocle de Mon Oncle A red bird flies across the golden floor. It is a red bird that seeks out his choir Among the choirs of wind and wet and wing. A torrent will fall from him when he finds. Shall I uncrumple this much-crumpled thing? I am a man of fortune greeting heirs; For it has come that thus I greet the spring. These choirs of welcome choir for me farewell. No spring can follow past meridian. Yet you persist with anecdotal bliss To make believe a starry connaissance.
AND, to account for my other favorite poet/lyricist Yoni Wolf, these are the lyrics to Act Five. There is no grace in act five Only the nerves, insect-like twitches Involuntary bowel movements, and confusion A snail in salt doesn't fall asleep With a half-smile Like grandma from the after-school special It twists and contorts It jerks and writhes for some time Like a living severed limb on fire
All the people who taught me card tricks are dying I've been trying To get my pop-pop's good looks from old snapshots And all the people who taught me crad tricks are dying I've been trying To steal my grandfather's handsome from old photographs
Even if the world is saved And the couples kiss before the credits list There will be more than a lifetime of death In the scrambled signal snow that's left When the black intake runs out The invisible frame's death tacked to your movie reel Far outweigh the reel itself
All the people who taught me card tricks are dying I've been trying To get my poppa's good looks from old snapshots And all the people who taught me crad tricks are dying I've been trying To steal my grandfather's handsome from old photographs
There is no grace in act five
A circus tent and all the folding chairs fit in an old coffin For travel A circus tent and all the folding chairs fit in an old coffin For travel
And he used to make me pray, wearing a mask like a death's head. When he put me there in the back seat, and he said, "Jesus save me, Jesus save me."
Thought I saw you in the battleship but it was only a look a like She was nothing but a vision trick Under the warning light She was close, close enough to be your ghost But my chances turned to toast When I asked her if I could call her your name
I thought I saw you in the rusty hook Huddled up in wicker chair I wandered up for a closer look And kissed who ever was sitting there
She was close, and she held me very tightly Till I asked awfully politely, please Can I call you her name
And I elongated my lift home, Yeah I let him go the long way round I smelt your scent on the seatbelt And kept my shortcuts to myself
I thought I saw you in the parrots beak Messing with the smoke alarm It was too loud for me to hear her speak And she had a broken arm
It was close, so close that the walls were wet And she wrote it out in letraset No you can't call me her name
Tell me where's your hiding place I'm worried I'll forget your face And I've asked everyone And I'm beginning to think I imagined you all along
I elongated my lift home Yeah I let him go the long way round I smelt your scent on the seatbelt And kept my shortcuts to myself
I saw your sister in the cornerstone On the phone to the middle man When I saw that she was on her own I thought she might understand She was close, well you couldn't get much closer She said I'm really not supposed to but yes, You can call me anything you want
And every little gust that chances through Will dance in the dust of me and you
He came riding fast like a phoenix out of fire flames He came dressed in black with a cross bearing my name He came bathed in light and the splendor and glory I can't believe what the lord has finally sent me
He said dance for me, fanciulla gentile He said laugh awhile, I can make your heart feel He said fly with me, touch the face of the true God And then cry with joy at the depth of my love
'Cause I've prayed days, I've prayed nights For the lord just to send me home some sign I've looked long, I've looked far To bring peace to my black and empty heart
My love will stay 'till the river bed run dry And my love lasts long as the sunshine blue sky I love him longer as each damn day goes The man is gone and heaven only knows
'Cause I've cried days, I've cried nights For the lord just to send me home some sign Is he near? is he far? Bring peace to my black and empty heart So long day, so long night Oh Lord, be near me tonight Is he near? is he far? Bring peace to my black and empty heart.
And he used to make me pray, wearing a mask like a death's head. When he put me there in the back seat, and he said, "Jesus save me, Jesus save me."
And in my dreams You're alive and you're crying As your mouth moves in mine Soft and sweet Rings of flowers round your eyes And I'll love you For the rest of your life (When you're ready)
So you're scared and you're thinking that maybe we ain't that young anymore Show a little faith, there's magic in the night You ain't a beauty but, hey, you're alright Oh, and that's alright with me
And every little gust that chances through Will dance in the dust of me and you
"I inherited a dark wood where I seldom go. But a day will come when the dead and the living trade places. The wood will be set in motion. We are not without hope. The most serious crimes will remain unsolved in spite of the efforts of many policemen. In the same way there is somewhere in our lives a great unsolved love. I inherited a dark wood, but today I’m walking in the other wood, the light one. All the living creatures that sing, wriggle, wag, and crawl! It’s spring and the air is very strong. I have graduated from the university of oblivion and am as empty-handed as the shirt on the clothesline."
The thing i like best about deciphering Joanna's songs...i'm always wrong.
"No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be; Am an attendant lord, one that will do To swell a progress, start a scene or two, Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool, Deferential, glad to be of use, Politic, cautious, and meticulous; Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse; At times, indeed, almost ridiculous— Almost, at times, the Fool."
"III. Is it for nothing, then, that old Chinese Sat tittivating by their mountain pools Or in the Yangtse studied out their beards? I shall not play the flat historic scale. You know how Utamaro's beauties sought The end of love in their all-speaking braids. You know the mountainous coiffures of Bath. Alas! Have all the barbers lived in vain That not one curl in nature has survived? Why, without pity on these studious ghosts, Do you come dripping in your hair from sleep?
IV. This luscious and impeccable fruit of life Falls, it appears, of its own weight to earth. When you were Eve, its acrid juice was sweet, Untasted, in its heavenly, orchard air. An apple serves as well as any skull To be the book in which to read a round, And is as excellent, in that it is composed Of what, like skulls, comes rotting back to ground. But it excels in this, that as the fruit Of love, it is a book too mad to read Before one merely reads to pass the time." —more from Le Monocle de mon Oncle by Wallace Stevens
And he used to make me pray, wearing a mask like a death's head. When he put me there in the back seat, and he said, "Jesus save me, Jesus save me."
The unending amends you've made are enough for one life. Be done. I believe in innocence, little darling. Start again. I believe in everyone. I believe, regardless. I believe in everyone.
And
The phantom of love moves among us at will. Each phantom-limb lost, has got an angel (so confused, like the wagging bobbed-tail of a bulldog): kindness, kindness prevails.
Kindness prevails! Ties and rails fall into line, bearing kindness. Where will you go, if not here? What will you say, when you write to us?
This is a world of terrible hardship, everywhere, and I search for words to set you at ease. But there, in the looking-glass, a kite is soaring, stilling my warring heart and my trembling knees.
Cos part of me is just a big hippy and I can't help but love. EDIT:All of me is a big pussy hippy. Sorry.
And every little gust that chances through Will dance in the dust of me and you
I was gonna post the "kindness prevails" bit of Esme a few days ago.
I didn't even notice that I'd already posted the Prince Hamlet bit from Prufrock in the first post. Every time I read that poem I get excited by the knowledge that that bit's coming up.
"I never did lose a battle, but I'm feeling further from the end of war: deplored, ignored and rarely ever self-assured. Why does it seem the ones that have everything have nothing inside, nothing inside?
I don't sleep anymore. I gave it up, coz what we do is not enough, and now they're calling out our bluff. Have you done a single thing for someone else, or do you take, take take, till your belly is stuffed?
How long do you think you can go before you lose it all? Before they call your bluff and watch you fall? I don't know, but I'd like to think I had control at some point but I let it go and lost my soul. Sit tight, but the revolution's years away. I'm losing faith and I'm running low on things to say, so I guess I have no choice but to regurgitate the tired anthem of a loser and a hypocrite.
Oh! To have died that night! I realized it wouldn't last. Our days were numbered and the reaper tipped the hourglass. The final mayday of our sinking ship had come and passed. Oh! To the west, you don't know what it is you're running from and everybody's laughing loud. Your last chance to make your mother and your father proud."
The whole of Streetlight Manifesto's A Moment of Violence, which is perfect for getting pumped to go on a protest.
"Look around, little brother, can you tell me what you see? You're a big boy now, so take responsibility. You never had it hard, but now it's getting tough, so you whine, whine, whine and you say you've had enough. You say I'm full of shit, that I'm a hypocrite. I shouldn't talk when I can't take the advice that I give. Well, maybe you're right, but open your eyes: The main difference here is that I try, try, try."
From Streetlight Manifesto's 1234, 1234. Always makes me feel a bit better about myself.
"It was dark out. I was half-dead. I saw a star fall into the sky, like a chunk of thrown coal, as if god himself spat like a cornered rat."
From Have One On Me, of course. I'm surprised I didn't post this sooner, because it's about my favourite thing she's ever written (and by extension, that anyone's ever written). A star falling into the sky like a chunk of thrown coal, god himself spitting like a cornered rat... Guuuh...
The way she sings, "It was dark out. I was half dead." - the words don't do that line justice; when she sings it, it's like someone shouting it in distress made music. It makes me think of Lola Montez sitting backstage after a show in Castlemaine, clutching a bottle of wine and drowning her sorrows, sobbing her reminiscences of when she was beloved to the King of Bavaria to her stagehand. Then there's those four lines of dense, layered imagery that so concisely turn everything the wrong way around - a star, reduced to a lump of burning coal, falls upwards and the supreme being is a terrified rat lashing out at its assailants, all in a cinder drifting by a carriage or a shooting star (I'm not able to decide which). In the face of her terror as she's forced to flee, parted from Ludwig forever, even god is only a ragged rat fighting for survival, even the stars are only glowing embers chucked carelessly across the sky or gobs of spit from the mouth of that frightened god-rat. It's just perfect.
Meanwhile, I will raise my own glass to how you made me fast and expendable, and I will drink to your excellent health, and your cruelty. Will you have one on me?
I had a dream you came to me, said You shall not do me harm anymore, and with your knife, you evicted my life from its little lighthouse on the seashore.
And every little gust that chances through Will dance in the dust of me and you
This is such a good idea for a thread ... Aside from Joannic verses I think I'd have to go with this section of Kate (and Anna) McGarrigle's 'Talk to me of Mendocino':
"And it's onto South bend Indiana Flat out on the western plains Rise up over the Rockies and down on into California Out to where but the rocks remain
And let the sun set on the ocean I will watch it from the shore Let the sun rise over the redwoods I'll rise with it till I rise no more"
... so beautiful, especially with those high, lonesome harmonies in the recording.
And 'Prayer Before Birth' by Loius MacNeice I think is one of the most perfect things ever written. Here is the last stanza:
"I am not yet born; O fill me With strength against those who would freeze my humanity, would dragoon me into a lethal automaton, would make me a cog in a machine, a thing with one face, a thing, and against all those who would dissipate my entirety, would blow me like thistledown hither and thither or hither and thither like water held in the hands would spill me.
Let them not make me a stone and let them not spill me. Otherwise kill me."
Love, hold my hand Help me see with the dawn That those that have left Are not gone But they carry on As stars looking down As nature's sons And daughters of the heavens You will not ever be forgotten by me In the procession of the mighty stars Your name is sung and tattooed now on my heart Here I will carry, carry, carry you
Forever
You have touched my life So that now Cathedrals of sound are singing, are singing The waves have come to walk with you To where you will live in the land of you, Land of you You will not ever be forgotten by me In the procession of the mighty stars Your name is sung and tattooed now on my heart Here I will carry, carry, carry you Here I will carry, carry, carry you
Forever.
So beautiful
And every little gust that chances through Will dance in the dust of me and you
Velociraptor! He’s gonna find ya! He’s gonna kill ya! He’s gonna eat ya! You’re on the outskirts Of his kingdom So keep your head down! Veloci– Velociraptor
And every little gust that chances through Will dance in the dust of me and you
I trust you, if it's already been done, undo it, It takes two, it's up to me and you, to prove it, All the rainy nights, even the coldest days, you're moments ago, but seconds away, The principal of Nature, it's true but, it's a cruel world,
And every little gust that chances through Will dance in the dust of me and you
Job's coffin looks down At the day you shut your power down You must out-create that distructive tendency Let your fire starter hear the fury. Sister it's time to bring it back on line.
Thank you Tori point well made
And every little gust that chances through Will dance in the dust of me and you