what cn tower?

Edit: This poem appearing in This Magazine, July 2008

(poem by Frank O'Hara)

Song


Is it dirty
does it look dirty
that's what you think of in the city

does it just seem dirty
that's what you think of in the city
you don't refuse to breathe do you

someone comes along with a very bad character
he seems attractive. is he really. yes. very
he's attractive as his character is bad. is it. yes

that's what you think of in the city
run your finger along your no-moss mind
that's not a thought that's soot

and you take a lot of dirt off someone
is the character less bad. no. it improves constantly
you don't refuse to breathe do you

untitled

In the house, in the fright,

in the absence of crying, a rustle,

the turn of a head from within.

The darkness is crawling, the skin

is defying but peeling and punctured

and letting it in.

.

When nothing is shining,
no light is defining, a movement,
a gasp and the breath is a lie.

Something is dying, the blindness
of mirrors, the spying, a stumble,

the wolf in the eye.