Billie

John Wieners

1934 –

2002

He was as a god,
stepped out of eternal dream
along the boardwalk.

He looked at my girl,
a dream to herself and
that was the end of them.

They disappeared beside the sea
at Revere Beach as
I aint seen them since.

If you find anyone
answering their description
please let me know. I need them

to carry the weight of my life
The old gods are gone. What lives on
in my heart

is their flesh
like a wound,
a tomb, a bomb.

From Supplication: Selected Poems of John Wieners, edited by Joshua Beckman, CAConrad, and Robert Dewhurst © 2015 John Wieners Literary Trust, Raymond Foye, Administrator. Reprinted with the permission of The John Wieners Literary Trust.

Charity Balls

I had a fellowship, but lived poorly
On slices of pizza.
Later, a career of washing lettuce;
but I have always been the same.
It’s a question of acquiring a mastery of tone
Beneath the crystal chandeliers and champagne
on a glass table top.
At the age of five I thought Scarlett O’Hara
a fictional character. It was not until
The age of forty-eight I knew she was real.
Old clothes and bedroom slippers and a scarf
Wrapped around her head
In low cost tenement housing.
She began talking about my writing

John Wieners

2015

au rive

What kind of poem would one write if one could?
What would one do with some money, if he had it, perhaps
to travel; but to where?

To experience Wednesday twilight, immediately after
dark: is that a promise to be kept

Naturally one can’t be sure until any of these things don’t
come true?

John Wieners

2015

Music

For Gerrit

What is poetry? an image
in the mirror;
reflection from a broadside
pinned to the wall,
penned by a friend,
from where old feelings
old meanings arise;
relief from pain; the diligence of work.

Mysterious words upon a page in adolescence;
listening to poets read. What is poetry?
Breath, competence, success
or simply Eros.
“Four sides to every thing.”

John Wieners

2015

Poems

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