Monday, May 24, 2010

3 poems

Three that have stayed with me, among dozens and dozens that have not. 


I'M NOT FIT COMPANY

I'm not fit company 
for women of intelligence
if their necks are long
if their hips are slim
if their eyes darken
with forbidden possibilities

I'm not fit company
for women of intelligence
who reject an old biology
who prefer sensitive men
who talk about feelings
un-biologically

If a thought
is unspoken speech
then isn't a feeling
unthought thought?
And if a feeling is unthought
how possibly can it be talked about?

I'm not fit company
for women of intelligence
who mistake equality
for similarity

Which brings me to you

In these dim lights
I’m not sure what I see
but go on instinct when I say
the odds strike me as good
despite the pleasantries between us
I’m not fit company
I’m not fit company

--Charles Deemer



AUTOBIOGRAPHY

I have a leak in my soul
And through it my character flows
Drip by drip. The Yellow Pages
Do not list Plumbers
For the Soul. The sages
At church have much to say
On this matter but nothing
They know makes sense to me.

I have a crack in my heart
Through which my spirit wants
To go. The wages of sleep
Do not pay the rent. Dreams
Without spirit do not spend.
A spirit lost is a spirit gone.
I have a leak in my soul
And through it my character flows.

I have a rent in my mind
And everything unwinds.
I don’t know where I’ve been.
I don’t know where I go.
I have a leak in my soul
And through it my character flows
Into the vast unknown
Far, so far, from home.

--Charles Deemer



ADVICE TO AN ARTIST ON CHOOSING A WIFE

May the gods bless you
with a wife who understands you

If you are not so fortunate
may she accept you for who you are

and if not this
at least put up with you

If she cannot put up with you
may she not kick you out

or if she does
not also call the police
or the Mental Health Institute

but even if she does
may she not inflict bodily harm
or drive you to cut off an ear

though should this happen
may the blade be clean
and not cause infection

Yet if serious harm comes to you
may she at least spare your work
and not destroy it

and if she must
let her forget the work
hoarded by your friends

If she knocks on their doors
may they not be home
or refuse to answer
or escape out the back door

and if she catches up with them at last

May God have mercy on their souls

-- Charles Deemer

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