SCOWLING AT A LINE
 
but how does it function
in relation to the beard
what is the angle
between nose and scowl
?
to answer this
we must turn to Silliman
 
he will not stop scowling
but he will have two fingers
and three ice cubes
and four teabags
 
yet on its own we are discussing a distant system altogether
so for this we consult Carroll: reinterpretations of a Cheshire scowl
Scowlings: Patriarchy, Capitalism, and Cat-hating
 
to the extent I am satisfied with this
(finally he
finally writes)
(finally)
I am willing to contribute twenty lines a day
to the newspaper of your choice
but should it get any worse
I may resort to prose
which we are both uncomfortable with
 
(after a short scowl he replaces which with that)
 
and, in parting,
here is a list of things that
really piss me off:
 
#1...
 
(after a short scowl he replaces that with which)
 
1. Winter turns to Autumn
 
allofasud-
den
there is no longer a word for
"line"
and poets
draftsmen
banktellers
politicians
pianists
striking
teachers
are all equally confused
 
it is for their sake that at this moment
we turn to the works of Xenakis
 
as you can see by the score:
what we thought was a line
was a series of small increments
 
the spaces between letters
are where words happen
and they sound like paint
 
the next scowl
a tentative scowl
what a line what a line
remembering
 
the
fucking
thrilling
performance
of songs in the lounge
the button would not stay buttoned
one of the other zippers
sank periodically into
depression
...
instead of underwear he should'
ve thrown a working pair of pants
onstage!
 
quoth Hendrix:
I'm gonna wave my freak flag, high
listen. just do me one small favor:
write a poem with four four-word lines
in each of four stanzas
that can be read across or down.
but please do not call it a cross-sentence puzzle
or I may become increasingly irritable
and be forced
to take tea
 
several times
 
a day
your loyal constituent,
 
the rustling of an envelope
not yet dawn
already the scowl softens
time to crack an egg in the sky
let freshly-brewed coffee
rain into underpants
wake up the chickens
 
nobody knew what that last line meant
the poem was a total failure bu-
t capitalism fell anyway