SHORT PANTOUM FOR THE BABARIAN

SHORT PANTOUM FOR THE BABARIAN

Calling it love, why do we choose to suffer instead;
because we feel it anew with each passing?
Inside the skull of night, I hesitate to disturb the spider's web.€
Blue skin on the surface of the water. It's beginning.

You talk about corporate structure and high finance,
trapped in the prison of your own choosing.
Our governments consider bilateral disarmament.
We proclaim the moon's in void. I live in the country.€

And feeling used, you said we all use each other
Freudian slip. They say Freud was a cross-dresser.
Plant a tree so it may discover quadralateral symmetry.€
What does he know of the incestuous relationships of poets?€

I am sending you stones because I know nothing else.
The oracle tells us to be like trees, upright & strong€
My friend says each relationship is a stepping stone.€ L
Yes, winter is a voyage across the dark tundra sea.€

Inside the skull of night, I hesitate to disturb the spider's web.
Calling it love, why do we choose to suffer instead?

5/29/92



I chose every other stanza from long pantoum (below). Less pedantic. Less pedantic.Cafe Babar in SF is where the Babarian poets hung out. Bruce Isaacson, its ringleader. I did several readings there.

LONG PANTOUM FOR BRUCE

Calling it love, why do we choose to suffer instead;
because we feel it anew with each passing?
Inside the skull of night, I hesitate to disturb the spider's web.€
Blue skin on the surface of the water. It's beginning.

Because we feel it anew with each passing,
you talk about corporate structure and high finance. €
Blue skin on the surface of the water. It's beginning.
Our governments consider bilateral disarmament.€

You talk about corporate structure and high finance,
trapped in the prison of your own choosing.
Our governments consider bilateral disarmament.
We proclaim the moon's in void. I live in the country.

Trapped in the prison of your own choosing
and feeling used, you said we all use each other,
we proclaim the moon's in void. I live in the country.
Plant a tree so it may discover quadralateral symmetry.

And feeling used, you said we all use each other€
Freudian slip. They say Freud was a cross-dresser. €
Plant a tree so it may discover quadralateral symmetry.€
What does he know of the incestuous relationships of poets?€

Freudian slip. They say Freud was a cross-dresser. €
I am sending you stones because I know nothing else.€
What do we know of the incestuous relationships of poets?
My friend says each relationship is a stepping stone.€

I am sending you stones because I know nothing else.
The oracle tells us to be like trees, upright & strong€
My friend says each relationship is a stepping stone.€
Yes, winter is a voyage across the dark tundra sea.

The oracle tells us to be like trees, upright & strong
Already we're hooked. We have each other's number.
Yes, winter is a voyage across the dark tundra sea.
Birches in winter. Will you drink birch blood and think of me?

Inside the skull of night, I hesitate to disturb the spider's web.
Calling it love, why do we choose to suffer instead?

5/29/92
I m so sick of embedded ascii—it's now pretty clean. It's not like anyone will ever read this.