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Baffler Archives: Poems

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Clistheret
I heard a sleave of song from an upper window and moved in the sun to find them I wanted to call to them, beg them to lean out, and go on But there was no window, I was on sand, their lullabye came from the waves, there were no waves, but a glinting derelict named—no derelict ...

Distinguo
Freedom, yes, but a Freedom combed and curled A safe, tame Freedom, eating from the hand A Freedom which will lie down at command Not this wild wench whose scarlet flag unfurled Threatens our cozy, comfortable world With voice like thunder echoing through the land Who tramps the ...

The Manly Apocalypse
1. Two-Fisted Tales       A cowcatcher jaw splinters the door.      “Jack Ginch, you slants!” The opium den clears.      Strike a match—so much for that sinister ...

from Cantos for James Michener
XCVI. He wasn’t sure how the bathroom mirror worked but decided it must be powered by the razor blades and aspirin he found in the engine compartment. It was a matter of relearning everything after he surfaced from the coma. The hospital chapel had bought a battered fog ...

Several Vistas
Of death. And even that crust of representation they belong to, falling asleep in a bus station, uncertain that this was all there is, all one waking reverie, the only hint of actual existence, say an office window, is no longer your friend, but is itself become abstract, ...

Night Train to Domestic Living Arrangements
In my own mind you have put me beside compunction. Re-worked this mourning room where looking smacks of mother may I though to this day I falter when you hold tow. Throw me over your deep end with some faith next time, as if to lend some bother to the vex. I’ve always wanted ...

Holding Pattern Over Providence
For new things one necessarily chooses new words. Call our adepts spiritists, our teaching spiritism, our reading books of spirits. Forget the past—one cannot know everything—the spirit loses memories to become itself. The veil is the return to bodily life. Divine angels, ...

Fluff
O Fluff, no one knows who you are. You were produced for one brief year (nineteen seventy-one) after Mattel discontinued Skooter, Barbie’s little sister Skipper’s best friend. The toy company feared the first generation of Bar- bie consumers, baby boomers nearing their ...

Ode To Protest
It’s as if to be real you and I must garner backers without a rib to call our own. We make ripples with daily effort and then suddenly flood the place with anger. Ours is the anger of the lowly, we see life from the knees up. What vision we had on that glorious day, even the ...

The Birthday Party
Trick Dogs and Warthogs are rolling on the lawn of the child’s birthday party the Trick Dog is tame the Warthog is Wild only you wouldn’t know it They mock-fight, bite and yelp for help the Trick Dog runs under a folding chair The Warthog charges at a seven year old boy ...

Tupperware
Each container is an emblem Of rubbery perfection, sealing Leftovers from the ravenous elements, Preserving them for tomorrow or the next day, Depending on a body’s mood. Say the mood is transferred, Inside equals outside, the when overlaps The where. Say the sun slips Softly ...