With Mr. J. R. Morton

1934 –

2002

For our nerves
this drink, a beating
on our nerves
no shakedown our heads
but of our nerves

I wish I was a dancer
and cd. move
in feet/undo my body

swing it out it
bangs my bubbs and belly
slide my toes in pebbles so
my nerves
wd. be taken up one by
one stretched out
tight thin to threads
and I wd. be free
inside my legs. My head
not snapped by a King Porter stomp
or played like
Jelly Roll
bends.

Ah daddy I wanna be drunk many days.
On a stage in front of beautiful eyes
I wd. remove my rags,
my dress drop
to work the curtain,
to dance out softly
(over their heads) barefoot on wood
softly
toes like vaseline
knee dips as I strip out my—
I desire to be taken to the top of the Liberty Bell and blown

by winds from Sweden
softly and my toes would do it if I
were a dancer.

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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With Mr. J. R. Morton

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Charity Balls

au rive

Music

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