47 lines
1.3 KiB
Plaintext
47 lines
1.3 KiB
Plaintext
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FEAR AND THE MONKEY
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(an Oui-Ja board poem)
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by William S. Burroughs
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[From the book 'The Burroughs File', City Lights
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Books, 1984. Originally written in August 1978
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and printed in an obscure magazine somewhere.]
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Turgid itch and the perfume of death
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On a whispering south wind
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A smell of abyss and of nothingness
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Dark Angel of the wanderers howls through the loft
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With sick smelling sleep
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Morning dream of a lost monkey
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Born and muffled under old whimsies
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With rose leaves in closed jars
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Fear and the monkey
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Sour taste of green fruit in the dawn
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The air milky and spiced with the trade winds
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White flesh was showing
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His jeans were so old
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Leg shadows by the sea
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Morning light
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On the sky light of a little shop
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On the odor of cheap wine in the sailors' quarter
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On the fountain sobbing in the police courtyards
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On the statue of moldy stone
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On the little boy whistling to stray dogs.
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Wanderers cling to their fading home
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A lost train whistle wan and muffled
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In the loft night taste of water
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Morning light on milky flesh
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Turgid itch ghost hand
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Sad as the death of monkeys
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Thy father a falling star
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Crystal bone into thin air
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Night sky
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Dispersal and emptiness.
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