THE OPENING OF THE TRUNK

Moment of inner freedomwhen the mind is opened and the

infinite universe revealed& the soul is left to wanderdazed & confus'd searching

here & there for teachers & friends.

Moment of Freedomas the prisoner

blinks in the sunlike a mole

from his hole

a child's 1st tripaway from home

That moment of Freedom

LAmericaCold treatment of our empress

LAmericaThe Transient Universe

LAmericaInstant communion and

communicationlamerica

emeralds in glasslamerica

searchlights at twi-lightlamerica

stoned streets in the pale dawnlamerica

robed in exilelamerica

swift beat of a proud heartlamerica

eyes like twentylamerica

swift dreamlamerica

frozen heartlamerica

soldiers doomlamerica

clouds & struggleslamerica

Nighthawk

doomed from the startlamerica

"That's how I met her,lamerica

lonely and frozenlamerica

& sullen, yeslamerica

right from the start"

Then stop.Go.

The wilderness between.Go round the march.

he enters stage:

Blood boots. Killer storm.Fool's gold. God in a heaven.

Where is she?Have you seen her?

Has anyone seen this girl?snap shot (projected)

She's my sister.Ladies & gentlemen:

please attend carefully to these words & eventsIt's your last chance, our last hope.

In this womb or tomb, we're free of the swarming streets.The black fever which rages is safely out those doors

My friends & I come fromFar Arden w/ dances, &

new musicEverywhere followers accrue

to our procession.Tales of Kings, gods, warriors

and lovers dangled likejewels for your careless pleasure

I'm Me!Can you dig it.

My meat is real.My hands--how they movebalanced like lithe demons

My hair--so twined and writhingThe skin of my face--pinch the cheeks

My flaming sword tonguespraying verbal fire-flys

I'm real.I'm human

But I'm not an ordinary manNo No No

What are you doing here?What do you want?

Is it music?We can play music.But you want more.

You want something & someone new.Am I right?

Of course I am.You want ecstasyDesire & dreams.

Things not exactly what they seem.I lead you this way, he pulls that way.I'm not singing to an imaginary girl.

I'm talking to you, my self.Let's recreate the world.

The palace of conception is burning.

Look. See it burn.Bask in the warm hot coals.

You're too young to be oldYou don't need to be told

You want to see things as they are.You know exactly what I do

Everything

I am a guide to the Labyrinth

Monarch of the protean towerson this cool stone patio

above the iron mistsunk in its own waste

breathing its own breath

POWER

I can make the earth stop inits tracks. I made theblue cars go away.

I can make myself invisible or small.I can become gigantic & reach the

farthest things. I can changethe course of nature.

I can place myself anywhere inspace or time.

I can summon the dead.

I can perceive events on other worlds,in my deepest inner mind,& in the minds of others.

I can

I am

People need ConnectorsWriters, heroes, stars, leaders

To give life form.A child's sand boat facing

the sun.Plastic soldiers in the miniature

dirt war. Forts.Garage Rocket Ships

Ceremonies, theatre, dancesTo reassert Tribal needs & memories

a call to worship, unitingabove all, a reversion,

a longing for family & thesafety magic of childhood

The grand highwayis

crowdedw/

lovers&

searchers&

leaversso

eagerto

please&

forget.

Wilderness

Now is blessedThe rest

remembered

A man rakes leaves into a heap in his pard, a plie,

& leans on his rake &burns them utterly.

The fragrance fills the forestchildren pause & heed thesmell, which will becomenostalgia in several years

SirensWater

Rain & ThunderJet from the base

Hot searing insect cryThe frogs & cricketsDoors open & closeThe smash of glass

The Soft ParadeAn accident

Rustle of silk, nylonWatering the dry grass

FireBells

Rattlesnake, whistles, castanetsLawn mower

Good Humor manSkates & wagons

Bikes

Where'd you learn aboutSatan-out of a bookLove?-out of a box

night of sin (The Fall)-1st sex, a feeling of having

done this same act in time beforeO No, not again

Between childhood, boyhood,adolescence

& manhood (maturity) thereshould be sharp lines drawn w/

Tests, deaths, feats, ritesstories, songs, & judgements

Men who go out on shipsTo escape sin & the mire of cities

watch the placenta of evening starsfrom the deck, on their backs

& cross the equator& perform rituals to exhume the dead

dangerous initiationTo mark passage to new levels

To feel on the verge of an exorcisma rite of passage

To wait, or seek manhoodenlightenment in a gun

To kill childhood, innocencein an instant

LAMERICA

Trade-routesguide lines

The Vikings & explorersDiscoverers

The unconscious

a map of the statesThe veins of hiways

Beauty of a mapHidden connectionsFast trampled forest

Madness in a whisperneon crackle

The hiss of treesA city growls

rich vast & sullenlike a slow monster

come to fat& die

THE ANATOMY OF ROCK

The 1st electric wildness cameover the peopleon sweet Friday.

Sweat was in the air.

The channel beamed,token of power.

Incense brewed darkly.Who could tell them that here

it would end?

One school bus crashed w/ a train.This was the Crossroads.

Mercury stained.I couldn't get out of my seat.

The road was litteredw/ dead jitterbugs.

Help,we'll be late for class.

The secret flurry of rumormarched over the yard &

pinned us unwittinglyMt. fever.

A girl stripped naked on thebase of the flagpole.

In the restrooms all was cool & silent

w/ the salt-green of latrines.Blankets were needed.

Ropes fluttered.Smiles flattered

& haunted.

Lockers pried open& secrets discovered.

Ah sweet music.

Wild sounds in the nightAngel siren voices.

The baying of great hounds.Cars screaming thru gears

& shriekson the wild road

Where the tires skip & slideinto dangerous curves.

Favorite corners.Cheerleaders raped in summer

buildings.Holding hands

& bopping toward Sunday.

Those lean sweet desperate hours.

Time searched the hallways

for a mind.Hands kept time.

The climate altered like a visible dance.

Night-time women.Wondrous sacraments of doubt

Sprang sullen in burstsof fear & guilt

in the womb's pit holebelow

The belt of the beast

Worship w/ words, w/sounds, hands, all

joyful playful &obscene-in the insane

infant.

Old men worship w/ longnoses, old soulful eyes.

Young girls worship,exotic, indian, w/ robes

who make us feel foolishfor acting w/ our eyes.

Lost in the vanity of the senseswhich got us where we are.Children worship but seldom

act at it. Who needstemples & couches & T.V.

We can do it on a sunnyfloor w/ friends & makeany sound or movementthat comes. Roll on our

backs screaming w/ mirthglad in the guilt of ourmadness. Better to becool in our worship &

gain the respect of theancient & wise wearingthose robes. They know

the secret of mind-changereality.

"Have you ever seen God?"-a mandala. A symmetrical angel.

Felt? yes. Fucking. The Sun.Heard? Music. Voices.

Touched? an animal. your hand.Tasted? Rare meat, corn, water,

& wine.

An angel runsThru the sudden light

Thru the roomA ghost precedes usA shadow follows us

And each time we stopWe fall

No one thought up being;he who thinks he has

Step forward

Shrill demented sparrows barkThe sun into being. They ruledawn's kingdom. The cars-

a rising chorus- Thenworkmen's songs & hammers

The children of the schoolyard,a hundred high voices,

complete the orchestration

"In that year there wasan intense visitation

of energy.I left school & went down

to the beach to live.I slept on a roof

At night the moon becamea woman's face.

I met the Spirit of Music."

An appearance of the devilon a Venice canal.

Running, I saw a Satanor Satyr, moving beside

me, a fleshy shadow

of my secret mind. Running,Knowing.

The day I left the beach

A hairy Satyr runningbehind & a little to the

right.

In the holy solipsismof the young

Now I can't walk thru a citystreet w/out eying eachsingle pedestrian. I feel

their vibes thru myskin, the hair on my neck

-it rises.

THE FEAR Eternal consciousness

in the Void(makes trial and jail seem almost

friendly)

a Kiss in the Storm

(Madman at the wheelgun at the neck

scape populous & archingcoolly)

A barna cabin attic

Your own facestationary

in the mirrored window

fear of restroom'sTragic cold

neon

I'm freezing

animalsdead

white wings of

rabbits

grey velvet deer

The Canyon

The car a craftin wretched

SPACE

Sudden movements

& your pastto warm youin Spiritless

Night

The Lonely HWYCold hiker

Afraid of wolves& his ownShadow

The Wolf,Who lives under the rock

has invited meto drink of his cool

Water.Not to splash or bathe

But leave the sun& know the dead desert

night& the cold menwho play there.

a haCome on, now

luring the TravelerMighty Voyager

Curious, into its dark wombThe graves grinning

Indians of nightThe eyes of nightWestward lurking

into the brothel, into the blood bathinto the Dream

The dark Dream of conquest

& Voyageinto night, Westward into Night

LAMERICA

Clothed in sunlightrestled in waiting

dying of fever

Changed shapes of an empireStarling invaders

Vast promissory notes of joy

Wanton, willful & passiveMarried to doubt

Clothed in great warring monumentsof glory

How it has changed youHow slowly estranged you

Solely arranged you

Beg you for mercy

The Crossraodsa place where ghostsreside to whisper into

the ears of travellers &interest them in their fate

Hitchhiker drinks:"I call again on the darkhidden gods of blood"

-Why do you call us?You know our price. It

never changes. Death ofyou will give you life

& free you from a vilefate. But it is getting late.

-If I could see you again& talk w/ you, & walk a

short while in your company,& drink the heady brewof your conversations,

I thought

-to rescue a soul already

ruined. To achieve respite.To plunder green goldon a pirate raid & bring

to camp the glory of old.

-As the capesman facespoisoned horns & drinksred victory; the soldier,

too, w/ his trophy, apierced helmet; & the

ledge-walker shudderinghis way into inward grace

-(laughter) Well, then. Wouldyou mock yourself?

-No.

-Soon our voices must becomeone, or one must leave.

Forest strong sandalsburnt geometry fingers

around a firereading history in blackened

books, charcoal silencein moot splendor

Flame-treeSire, we met in Eden

The troubled timewe had

rustling in the night leavesa sniper aimed at our windowa kitten mewing in the blasted

strong airI must go see

-You've found your Voice,friend, after all elseI recognize fast theStrong sure tones of

a poetwas it a question

Search or of strangling?I wonder

We never talkedBut welcome hereto the camp fireShare our meal

w/ us& tell us of your life

& the hanging

-Well 1st I screamed& I was a child again aliveThen nothing til the age

of 5

& then summers & the racetrackI looked for a girl in

New Mexicanbars

& found jailThe prostitute looked out

her cell & sawFuck god scratchedon a leprous wall

-You're rambling boywhat of the restthe jazz highway

he winks.

-I got picked up& rode through the night

-did you see any buildings

-did I...What was I doing

of course we danced plentyShe had nice sides

the cop hit meStop, I don't remember

-The logs are meltingwe must move onThe fire's endingwe'll hear moreat the next altar

[musical interlude]

TreesTrain-death

The American NightWe went through 5 cords

of wood this winter

-he told me beautiful stories& had the most beautiful visions

He was a truly religious manat the end

-you know, I like you guys

god-damn!

(I saw this cat run outof the ocean, one night,and beat-off into a fire)

I'm going down to MexicoTo this border town I heard

about & I'm gonna buyme a girl & bring her

back up here & marry her, it'strue. This guy told me.

A friend of his knew someone who

-You're too much

There was preserved in her

The fresh miracleof

surprise

open

The Night is young& full of rest

I can't describethe way she's dress'd

She'll pander to some strangerequests

Anything that you suggestAnything to please her guest

SIRENS

Midnightcriminal metabolism of guilt forest

Rattlesnakes whistles catcalls

Remove me from this hall of mirrorsThis filthy glass

Are you herDo you look like that

How could you be whenno one ever could

Poet of the call-girl storm

She left a note on the bedroom door."If I'm out, bring me to."

I dropped by to see youlate last night

But you were outlike a light

Your head was on the floor& rats played pool w/ your eyes

Death is a good disguisefor late at night

Wrapping all its games in its calm garden

But what happenswhen the guests return

& all unmask& you are asked

to leavefor want of a smile

I'll still take you thenBut I'm your friend

ODENEW YORK MAIDENS

everyone has Their own magic

There is no death

so nothing matters

High Style

Flash & forgive me

high button shoes

clean arrangement

messy breeding

love's triumph

everlasting hope & fulfillment

THE AMERICAN NIGHT

for leather accruesThe miracle of the streets

The scents & somgs &pollens of existence

Shiny blacknessso totally naked she was

Totally un-hung-up

We looked aroundlights now on

To see our fellow travellers