830 lines
20 KiB
Plaintext
830 lines
20 KiB
Plaintext
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* 9 LIGHT POEMS *
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* *
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* by *
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* *
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* JACKSON MAC LOW *
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* *
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1ST LIGHT POEM: FOR IRIS -- 10 JUNE 1962
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The light of a student-lamp
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sapphire light
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shimmer
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the light of a smoking-lamp
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Light from the Magellanic Clouds
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the light of a Nernst lamp
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the light of a naphtha-lamp
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light from meteorites
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Evanescent light
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ether
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the light of an electric lamp
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extra light
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Citrine light
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kineographic light
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the light of a Kitson lamp
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kindly light
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Ice light
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irradiation
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ignition
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altar light
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The light of a spotlight
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a sunbeam
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sunrise
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solar light
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Mustard-oil light
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maroon light
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the light of a magnesium flare
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light from a meteor
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Evanescent light
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ether
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light from an electric lamp
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an extra light
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Light from a student-lamp
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sapphire light
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a shimmer
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smoking-lamp light
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Ordinary light
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orgone lumination
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light from a lamp burning olive oil
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opal light
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Actinism
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atom-bomb light
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the light of an alcohol lamp
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the light of a lamp burning anda-oil
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2ND LIGHT POEM: FOR DIANE WAKOSKI -- 10 JUNE 1962
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I.
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Old light and owl-light
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may be opal light
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in the small
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orifice
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where old light
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& the will-o'-the-wisp
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make no announcement of waning
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light
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but with direct directions
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& the winking light of the will-o'-the-wisp's accoutrements
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& lilac light
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a delightful phenomenon
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a delightful phenomenon of lucence & lucidity needing no
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announcement
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even of lilac light
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my present activities may be seen in the old light of my accoutrements
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as a project in owl-light
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II.
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A bulky, space-suited figure
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from the whole cloth of my present activities
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with a taste for mythology in opal light
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& _such a manner_
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in the old light from some being outside
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as if this being's old light cd have brought such a manner
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to a bulky, space-suited figure
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from the whole world of my present activities
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at this time
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when my grief gives owl-light
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only
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not an opal light
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& not a very old light
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neither
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old light nor owl-light
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makes it have such a manner about it
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tho opal light & old light & marsh light & moonlight
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& that of the whole world
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to which the light of meteors is marsh light
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all light it
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no it's
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an emerald light
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in the light form the eyes that are making it whole from the whole
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cloth
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with no announcement this time.
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III.
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What is extra light?
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A delightful phenomenon.
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A delightful phenomenon having no announcement?
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No more than the emerald light has.
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Is that the will-o'-the-wisp?
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No, it's the waning light of my grief.
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Is it a winking light?
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No more than it is the will-o'-the-wisp.
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Is it old light?
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The oldest in the whole world.
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Why do you speak in such a manner?
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I suppose, because of the owl-light.
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Is it a kind of opal light?
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No, I said it was old light.
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Is it a cold light?
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More like a chemical light with the usual accoutrements.
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Like the carmine light produced by my present activities?
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More of a cold light than that.
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Like what might fall on a bulky, space-suited figure?
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Well, it's neither red light nor reflected light.
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Are you making this up out of whole cloth?
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No, I'm trying to give you direct directions.
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For avoiding a bulky, space-suited figure?
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No, for getting light from a rhodochrosite.
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_________________________________________________________________
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Note: A rhodochrosite is a vitreous rose-red or variously colored
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gem-stone having a hardness of 4.5 & a density of 3.8 and
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consisting of manganous carbonate (MnCO3) crystallized in the
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rhombohedral system.
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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IV.
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This time I'm going to talk about red light.
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First of all, it's not very much like emerald light.
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Nevertheless, there's still some of it in Pittsburgh.
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It adds to the light from eyes an extra light.
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This is also true of emerald light.
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But red light better suits those with a taste for mythology.
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As reflected light it is often paler than the light from a rhodochrosite.
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Such a red light might fall on a bulky, space-suited figure.
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In just such a manner might this being be illuminated during a time
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gambol.
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5TH LIGHT POEM AND 2ND PIECE FOR GEORGE BRECHT TO PERFORM
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THO OTHERS MAY ALSO UNLESS HE DOESN'T WANT THEM TO -- 13 JUNE 1962
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George Brecht
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in a white light
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sits on a white
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wooden chair.
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He wears a
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white tee shirt
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white cotton trousers
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white socks &
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white tennis
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shoes.
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He throws white roses
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from a white vase
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into a white waste-
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basket placed
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at a challenging distance from the chair.
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Around & between
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George's chair
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& the wastebasket
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he has placed
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sources of some kinds of light
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& emblems of the possibility of others.
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He continues throwing the roses into the wastebasket
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until he misses.
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Then he goes to the rose on the floor
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& carefully draws a line on the
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floor with
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white chalk
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from the bottom of the rose's stem
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to the petals &
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prolongs the line until he hits
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or nears
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a light source or emblem.
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After pocketing the chalk
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he retrieves the roses from the wastebasket
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counts them out loud
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& returns them & the one from the floor
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to the vase.
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He goes back to the white chair.
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As he sits
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the lights go out
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for as many time-units
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of his own choosing
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as there had been roses
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in the
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waste-
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basket.
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Then George produces a light by means of the source
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if the rose pointed to a light source
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& if it pointed to an emblem
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he makes the kind of light the emblem symbolizes visible.
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This kind of light remains visible
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for as many time-units
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(either one's the same as those that measured the darkness
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or different ones than those that measured the darkness)
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as there had been roses in the wastebasket.
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Among the kinds of light that might be seen now
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might be
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arc-light
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watch-light light
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jump-spark igniter light
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_Aufklarung_
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lightning
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rays of light
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cold light
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moonlight
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naphtha-lamp light
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noontide light
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luminiferousness
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almandite light
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enameling-lamp light
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a nimbus
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meteor light
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Jack-o'-lantern light
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water lights
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jack-light light
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refracted light
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altar light
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Corona-cluster light
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magic lantern light
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ice-sky light
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clear grey light
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iridescence
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natural light
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infra-red light
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Reichsanstalt's lamplight
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exploding-starlight
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Saturn light
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Earthlight
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actinism
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sodium-vapor lamplight
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cloud light
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Coma-cluster light
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alcohol lamplight
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luster
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light of day &/or
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lamplight.
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One of these kinds of light might be seen now
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or
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some other kind of light.
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After a short darkness
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the white light goes on again
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& George
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on his white wooden chair
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throws the white roses into the white wastebasket
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until
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he
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misses.
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Then he does what he does again
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then more darkness
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then
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the kind of light
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pointed to
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by the rose on the floor
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then
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more
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darkness
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then George in a white light throwing roses
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& so on
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until he feels it beautiful to stop.
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10TH LIGHT POEM: 2ND ONE FOR IRIS -- 19 JUNE - 2 JULY 1962
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A useless plan proposed in acetylene light
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to a cheery visitor
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who carries a lamp that burns castanha-oil
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lit
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adding its castanha-oil
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light
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to the acetylene
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scene
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advancing ignition
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of
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the refusal of a loan
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despite long working hours
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stretching to the aurora
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& an exchange of possessions
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in winestones-oil
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lamplight
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or a need for stressing modernization
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&/or exploding starlight
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are merely petty annoyances
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but ether lamp light
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threatens
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an improvement of conditions
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despite
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a useless plan
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proposed
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in acetylene light
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& failing in
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ghost light.
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15TH LIGHT POEM: FOR SUSAN WITLIN -- 11 AUGUST 1962
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'In the middle of the road of our life'
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the attention advances & ignites
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the balance
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& the intuitive light
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alive in any baby
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not mere lucence
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of places
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& plants
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22ND LIGHT POEM: FOR DAVID ANTIN & ELEANOR & BLAISE ANTIN -- 1 JULY 1968
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Can the light of a dark lantern cause
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word division?
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Not when artificial light
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enforces complementary distribution.
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But in a vivid light
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an adverb
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may function as a call.
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Wd that require a kind of incandescence?
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Not in daylight.
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Wd anda-oil suffice?
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If the lamp were new enough.
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But what might be the effect
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of nova light?
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It would be a modifier.
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Wd it modify a word?
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Perhaps a noun.
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Wd a tantalum lamp do more?
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More than an ignis fatuus wd.
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Wd it ensure close juncture?
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Noonlight wd do that better.
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What about early light?
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Its lucence might provide
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a kind of punctuation.
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Better than electric light?
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Better than an azure exit light.
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But what wd make for rising terminal juncture?
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Only the light of noontide.
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Then what wd opalescent light provide?
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Rising terminal juncture.
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In what focal area?
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Any one
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that might be reached
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by rays of light.
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Even if only by those
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of a Berzelius lamp?
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Even a transition area
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lit by lightning.
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Cd a verb be made inactive
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by the aurora australis?
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If falling terminal juncture intervened.
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If light fell thru an iolite
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bluely
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what might it originate
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by analogy?
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Nothing in a nonlinguistic context.
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Not even an ignis fatuus in starlight?
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Not even a new verb.
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Is light from an electric lamp
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enough to do that?
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Not even enough
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for a novel noun-determiner.
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What about an annealing lamp?
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That sets my teeth on edge.
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What about a night light?
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That might.
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Comparatively speaking?
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That depends on the kind of word.
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Wd a tungsten lamp do better?
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If it cd affect articulation.
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That needs illucidation.
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Do it with a verb-phrase.
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Cdn't I do it with a nova?
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No, sir.
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32ND LIGHT POEM: _IN MEMORIAM_ PAUL BLACKBURN
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9 - 10 OCTOBER 1971
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Let me choose the kinds of light
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to light the passing of my friend
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Paul Blackburn a poet
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A pale light like that of a winter dawn
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or twilight
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or phosphorescence
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is not enough to guide him in his passing
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but enough for us to see
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shadowily his last gaunt figure
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how he showed himself to us
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last July in Michigan
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when he made us think he was recovering
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knowing the carcinoma
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arrested in his esophagus
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had already spread to his bones
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How he led us on
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I spent so little time with him
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thinking he'd be with us now
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Amber light of regret
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stains my memories of our days
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at the poetry festival in Allendale Michigan
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How many times I hurried elsewhere
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rather than spending time with him
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in his room 3 doors from me
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I will regret it the rest of my life
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I must learn to live
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with the regret
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dwelling on the moments
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Paul & I shared
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in July as in years before
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tho amber light dim to umber
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& I can hardly see
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his brave emaciated face
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I see Paul standing in the umber light
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cast on his existence
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by his knowing that his death was fast approaching
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Lightning blasts the guilty dream
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& I see him
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reading in the little auditorium
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& hear him
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confidently reading
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careful of his timing
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anxious not to take
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more than his share of reading time
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filling our hearts with rejoicing
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seeing him alive
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doing the work he was here for
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seemingly among us now
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I for one was fooled
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thinking he was winning the battle
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so I wept that night for joy
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As I embraced him after he read
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I shook with relief & love
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I was so happy to hear you read again
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If there were a kind of black light
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that suddenly cd reveal to us
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each other's inwardness
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what wd I have seen that night
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as I embraced you
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with tears of joy
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I keep remembering the bolt of lightning
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that slashed the sky at twilight
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over the Gulf of St. Lawrence
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& turned an enchanted walk with Bici
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following Angus Willie's Brook
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thru mossy woods nearly to its mouth
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to a boot-filling scramble up thru thorn bush & spruce tangle
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Beatrice guided me & I was safe
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at the end of August on Cape Breton Island
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but when Jerry telephoned me of your death
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the lightning that destroyed
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the illusion you were safe
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led thru dreadful amber light
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not to friendly car light
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& welcoming kitchen light
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but to black light of absence
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not ultraviolet light
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revealing hidden colors
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but revelatory light that is _no_ light
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the unending light of the realization
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that no light will ever light your bodily presence again
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Now your poems' light is all
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the unending light of your presence
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in the living light of your voice
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12:33 AM Sun 10 Oct 1971
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The Bronx
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36TH LIGHT POEM: _IN MEMORIAM_ BUSTER KEATON --
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4:50-6:18 A.M. SAT 1 JAN. 1972
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1
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As a mad scientist
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Buster lights a Bunsen-burner flame
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that starts a series of processes
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that eventually releases The Monster
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As an Undertaker
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Buster lights a Bunsen-burner flame
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that starts a series of processes
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that awakens a drunk who was about to be buried as a corpse
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As a Muscovite
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Buster lights a sisal wick in a sesame-seed-oil lamp
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that suddenly lights a mystical orgy
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officiated over by Rasputin
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As a boater
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Buster beats a cascade by floating out beyond its edge
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borne by a balloon
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lit by a wintry sun
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As an Unwilling Passenger on a Drifting Liner
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Buster the Millionaire & his rich Girl Friend
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learn to cope Alone Without Servants
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when forced to rely on the light of their Upper-Class Intellects
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As a Worker
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Buster arouses the Compassion of the Nation
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in whose light the Corporations
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sell themselves to their Workers
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As a Key Man
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Buster carries around with him
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an enormous bunch of keys
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lighting the way with a Keats lamp
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As a Beatnik
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Buster meditates in a Redwood forest
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seated where the Selenic light
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first falls at Moonrise
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As a Leaf-&-Feather Gatherer
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Buster Means Well but bugs everyone in the Park
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spearing the ladies' hats & the picnickers' salads
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in featureless Hollywood Light of the century's first quarter
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As William Butler Yeats
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Buster addresses an irate Irish crowd
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that thinks that Poetry makes Nothing Happen
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but lets itself be bathed by its Truthful Light
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As a Cannoneer
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Buster explodes his own ship's magazine
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treads water in Gunpowder Light at a safe distance
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& blushes in embarrassment at his Clumsiness
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As a Violinist
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Buster surpasses Paganini
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until Boston-Concert-Hall Light
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Poisons him with Love for a Proper Bostonian Maiden
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2
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Spirit of Buster Keaton
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if you survive as yourself
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receive Please our honor & praise
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you conscientious Workman
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Hard-working Buster Keaton
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when you arouse the laughter of children
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as you live in Projector Light
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Your Karmic Residue dissolves in Joyous Shouts
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58TH LIGHT POEM: FOR ANNE TARDOS -- 19 MARCH 1979
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I know when I've fallen in love I start to write love songs
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Love's actinism turns nineteens to words & thoughts in love songs
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as your "A" & the date made "actinism" enter this love song
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Also I seem to start dropping punctuation
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My need for punctuation lessens like some people's need for sleep
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My need for sleep lessens too but later I fall on my face
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Lack of punctuation doesn't catch up with me like lack of sleep
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It doesn't make me fall on my face
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So bright the near noon light the toy photometer twirls in
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the sunlight slanting in from southeast thru the southwest window
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the stronger the light the faster the light motor turns
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diamond vanes' black sides absorb white sides radiate photons
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See it go
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A "42" draws the northern lights into the song
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as yesterday into the Taggart Light Poem twice they were drawn
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as "aurora borealis" & "aurora" by "A"'s & by numbers
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There they seemed eery & threatening Here they seem hopeful
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as they seemed when last I saw them over the Gulf of St. Lawrence
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cold euphoric after making love wondering
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at swirling curtains & sudden billows lighting the sky northwest
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I remember their evanescent light as neutral or bluish white
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I remember the possibility of yellow the improbability of red
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not like Bearsville's rose & blood sky twenty-five years before
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Now these memories mingled with pictures' descriptions'
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project on inward skies idiosyncratic northern lights
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that only exist while I'm writing these lines for Anne
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Even the next time I read them the lights they arouse will be different
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Nineteen sheds a tranquil light on our love song thru your "T"
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Our love's tranquil light revealed by 19 & by T
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is turned by 15 to an aureole tipping an "A"
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The "A" becomes your face The aureole grows
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Reducence from my face glows back on yours
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A telephone bell can deflect & dissipate my light
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The deflected light is lost to poem & person
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I turn my telephone off these days to help ordinary light breed poems
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The sun is so bright on my desk now except on the typewriter keys
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that there's no need for the light of the student lamp placed to
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shine on the paper
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But now five hours later the lamp's the only light
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& I begin the poem's "astrological" section
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II
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Acetylene light may be what Virgo needs to see the "pattern
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except that for him this is something" he will
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only acknowledge if it can be seen in natural light
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Can we gain new light from astrology that ubiquitous superstition
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You Sagittarius Woman Me Virgo Man
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What "can happen between them is a" mazing
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a dizzying a stupefying or dazing a crazing
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a great perplexing bewildering amazing
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forming a maze of something or making it intricate
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being bewildered wandering as in a maze
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What has happened between them is amazing
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What is happening between us is amazing
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more intense & vivid than electric arc light tremendous light
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brighter than acetylene light friendly as reading lamp light
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"But a young Sagit-
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tarian need have no qualms about taking on a
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man considerably her senior if he is a "Virgo"
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Rand's random digits underline our case
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in this lovely silly optimistic sentence
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We've been living I think in a kind of drowning light
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"He reaches the age of forty At anything less than that age
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he is not even a possible for a Sagittarius"
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Me Virgo Man You Sagittarius Woman
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Orgone radiation flimmers between us
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our curious safety light
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"What can happen between them is superb
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Something he has spent half his life dreaming about
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At last it has come true" O ingratiating
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astrological light may you never prove false
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even to one who has often decried you as no light
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but superstitious darkness natural light would dispel
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or the electric arc light of empirical science
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The way I'm writing this poem's like using
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trichromatic artificial radiance
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not as decorative light in place of
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ordinary solar radiation as you photographers do
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Before I was forty "not even a possible for a Sagittarius"
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now I'm sixteen over the line & safe with you
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"Her but a young Sagittarian need have" none "qualms" have no
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basis
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Are we dreaming Is this Virgo Man still dreaming
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as "he has spent half his life" they say "dreaming"
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"Sagittarian & Virgo"
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"The pattern is perfect"
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The poem is over
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19-20 March 1979
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New York
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*****************************************************************
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from 22 LIGHT POEMS, Black Sparrow Press
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Copyright (C) 1968 by Jackson Mac Low
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and
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REPRESENTATIVE WORKS, Roof Books
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Copyright (C) 1986 by Jackson Mac Low
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