Kenmore: Poem Unlimited

8/14/2019 Kenmore: Poem Unlimited

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KenmorePoem Unlimited

Geoffrey Gatza


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A Publication of

Bloomington, Illinois

Copyright 2008 Geoffrey GatzaISBN: 978-1440463112


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The best actors in the world, either for tragedy,comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical,historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral, scene individable, orpoem unlimited: Seneca cannot be too heavy, norPlautus too light. For the law of writ and theliberty, these are the only men.

Shakespeare | Hamlet | Act 2, Scene 2

You that look pale and tremble at this chance,That are but mutes or audience to this act,Had I but time--as this fell sergeant, death,Is strict in his arrest--O, I could tell you--But let it be. Horatio, I am dead;Thou livest; report me and my cause arightTo the unsatisfied.

Shakespeare | Hamlet | Act 5, Scene 2


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Kenmore


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N o t e B e n e

On Gwion And The Wisdom PotionTaliesin began his life as boy named Gwion Bach, a servant to thewitch Ceridwen. Ceridwen had a beautiful daughter and an uglyson named Morfran, whose appearance no magic could cure. Shesought to give him the gift of wisdom as compensation for hisugliness.

Using a magical cauldron, Ceridwen cooked a potion grantingwisdom and inspiration, which required cooking for a year and a

day. The first three drops of liquid from this cauldron gave wisdom;the remaining brew was a fatal poison.

A blind man named Morda tended the fire beneath the cauldron,while Gwion Bach stirred the concoction. Three hot drops spilledonto Gwion's thumb as he stirred, burning him. Instinctively heplaced his thumb in his mouth, instantly earning great wisdom andmagic. It occurred to him that Ceridwen would seek revenge forthis transaction. Scared, he ran away, but all too soon her furyunleashed in sounds of her pursuit.

As Ceridwen chased Gwion, he used his newly found magic andturned himself into a hare. In response, she became a greyhound.He then became a fish and jumped into a river, she then turnedinto an otter. He turned into a bird, and in response she became ahawk. Finally, he turned into a single grain of corn. She laughedwith pride and changed into a hen and ate him. It was then sherealized she was pregnant. She resolved to cut the childs throat,knowing it was Gwion. Once born the was so beautiful that shecouldn't go through with the deed. Instead, she placed the child

inside a leather bag and left it by the ocean.

The story of Gwion and the wisdom potion resembles the Irishfolktale of Finn and the salmon of wisdom. A blending of both isused to form the first half of the poem.

Enoch: Devils , Giants and Dream VisionsThe second section details the change of Taliesin into Isidore. Thisis based in part on the apocryphal apocalyptic text, The Book ofEnoch. The source translation is taken from the first Englishtranslation of the Bodleian/Ethiopic manuscript published in 1821


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by Professor Richard Laurence, Titled The Book of Enoch, theprophet: an apocryphal production, supposed to have been lost forages; but discovered at the close of the last century in Abyssinia;now first translated from an Ethiopic MS in the Bodleian Library.Oxford,1821.

The story gives witness to the end of days when two hundredrogue angels leave heaven. They take human wives and teachhumans secret arts. In time their children grow to be giants andrevolt. For their evil deeds and the taking of human wives whobrought forth unholy children, they are sentenced to hell.

The angels plead with Isidore to intercede with God on their behalf.And in a dream vision Isidore meets god in heaven and is given amessage of doom in a language they will understand is that of god.

As a reward for this task, Isidore is granted a walk through theheavens guided by the archangels. He is shown heaven, hell, thetree of knowledge and Eden.


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I g n o m i n i o u sThese tales of ratiocination owe most of their popularity to beingsomething in a new key. I do not mean to say that they are not

ingeniousbut people think them more ingenious than they areonaccount of their method and air of method. In the"Murders in the RueMorgue,"for instance, where is the ingenuity in unraveling a web whichyou yourself... have woven for the express purpose of unraveling?

E.A. POE on inventing the detective genera

So you would , would you?The story begins with the lighting of a candle, the goodbye,Combusting paper, a canvas sky reflecting forty days of toilSouls succor after succumbing, succumbing in a phony songJust as phony as phony can be, swinging softly in an imagined

muslin tree

Simple story this; its me out walkingI meet this guy on the road near Failing CemeteryHe is fishing in the sewer grate.

I know fucking weird, right.Hes got a tackle box and all his bobbles and buckles out onthe lawn. So what do I do but talk to the mental bugger,have you caught anything, I say, catch anything but a cold?He doesnt laugh, I follow up with the old, hot enough for ya?

I don't know how to respond to that one either soI sit by this ugly fucker and give him a good stareTrying to judge his sanity by peering eye to eye into his soul.

Fuck all.

So I says to the fucker, what are you after there, jimmy?He says his names not jimmy; well no of course it isntJimmy is the name of my penis, and you sitting there dangling It just seemed natural. Jimmy says his name is FishAnd that is what he is after, a fish. Well, at least your father hasA sense of humor about him; then I slap on his back, what a hoot!


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I t s t h e w a y t h i n g s c h a n g e

the cat peed on my favorite calvin klein t-shirtthe maroonish one with ribbing and a slight elasticityso it holds its shape after continued washing

but smell is another matter entirelynothing makes one scream and point likeurine

i started to run, chase the catshe gets out the screen doorand she sees a rabbit on the lawnshes after it in a flashi grab a broom and yell

it bolts into the shrubs

im not sure if it was hurtso after the cat is back insidei look to see if the bunny is ok

the bunny is sitting under the wooden porchthe gray paint is chipping in spots and waterdamage has taken its toll after many years ofbbqs and late nights with dear friends fromlate spring to early fall

i remember exactly the moment i lost my mindit was a beautiful open electric flash of knowing

to continue, the bunny was not there

under the porch was an emerald green garter snakei thought he would make a great soup and skin belt


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M u n d a n e E x tr a M u n d a n e

The way tothe otherIs found inthe not other


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W h i t e W i z a rd

I am watching the television12/27/0710:10:50 AMListening to iTunes on my white MacBookWhile writing poetryBenazir Bhutto has just been assassinatedA remake of REMs hit song,End Of The WorldAs We Know It, set as a sea shanty begins to play.

There is an empty cup waiting.A dark creeping shadowSwinging with the lamp.Tigers trump fires.

I feel strange about it but I placeIndiana Jones and the Last CrusadeIn the DVD player and smoke a pipe.


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T h e M i s fi t sFor Michael Kelleher

Everyday is just one day for misfitsShe takes a sip from the boys glassHer body flows with the ping-pong

Beauty jumps the western bar fightA Stetson swinging full of winningsHer mink wrap at the rodeo screams

The broken nosed cowboy in chaps gets back on his horse

Only this horse is a bull, he gets thrown but doesnt get upWell he does get up later

Has a beer with MarilynThe golden ladder leadsTo a haystack of her hips

Alpha and omega are in the thorn treeTill Armageddon the wise man willBow down and they will throw their

Golden crowns at his feet when the man comes aroundMarching to a large kettledrum in the whirlwindAround the thorn tree

She will let him lay in her lapLooking down at his buckledBroken body.

Were all horses out on a range, living wide,Wild; to live long enough to outlive our day,our ability to outrun

thems that chaseand get caughtand canned

as

dogfood


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PoissonierSo I say to Fish, if you catch a fish out of that sewer grate Ill cook

it. And Ive cooked up a few fish in my day, I dont mind telling you.I can tell that he is not too keen on the cooking so I don't force it.

He says that his mother assured him a fish is down there.

I say something like; maybe she meant that he was in the gutter.

No reaction, he keeps bobbing is pole in and out.

After a time he says that it is a magic fish he is hunting; magic.

It is the fish of wisdom and whoever tastes him first will gainWisdoms of the first water and vivid topaz thoughts of the past.

I laugh at his story.

Fish keeps fishing.

Ill cook that fucker.

His mother has a plan; he says after fifteen minutes of silence.It is her magic that will solve all things, making amends to me.

She was cursed by a crossweaving wizard

Old magic from a beloved wizard scorned

Dark magic, dark words spoken by candle

She was changed as I was changed, to this

If I could talk I would tell you, you arefar and away my most imaginary friend.


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VictoryI bought a cap gun from the corner store

Walked up on Fish and shot three times

He didnt moveBut the fish did

It jumped up and out of that sewer grateFlipped its silver feathered tail, waving

I dropped the gunbobbled out for it

only to have Fish grasp holdof the silver fish of wisdom


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Silver Fish of Wisdom with Ginger Beurre Blanc

- caught fresh from sewer, scaled, cleaned and gutted- de-bone and stuff belly with herbs and fennel greens

Magical Court Bouillon

2 Parsnips2 Carrots3 cloves of garlic1 head of fennel2 leeks, cleaned1 medium celeriac

1 bottle good white white2 quarts good fish stock

Bring to boil, add ingredients and simmer softly 25 minutes

drain and reduce temperature to 175F. Carefully place fish

into the liquid and poach very, very slowly until just cooked.

Remove and serve immediately with Parisian potatoesaromatic vegetable, ginger beurre blanc and plum wine.


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maple keysThe distinctive fruit are called samaras or "maple keys". These seeds

occur in distinctive pairs each containing one seed enclosed in a"nutlet" attached to a flattened wing of fibrous, papery tissue. Theyare shaped to spin as they fall and to carry the seeds a considerabledistance on the wind. Seed maturation is usually in a few weeks tosix months after flowering, with seed dispersal shortly aftermaturity. Most species require stratification in order to germinate,and some seeds can remain dormant in the soil for several yearsbefore germinating.


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We become wiser if no t sadder from our d isastersThe rabbit changes into a garter snake

The snake changes into a skunkThe skunk changes into a squirrelThe squirrel changes into a henThe hen changes into a deerThe deer changes into a doeThe doe changes into a foxThe fox changes into a robinThe robin changes into a bluejayThe bluejay changes into a crowThe crow changes into a hawk

The hawk changes into an elmThe elm changes into a mapleThe maple changes into a samara and spins away


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It s alright Ma , I m only bleedingI follow the ugly Fish and the silver fish

To a cottage at the end of Danbury Lane.

A dog on the loose runs past my legsA woman in a yellow slicker sweeps.

I say, the Dead End is appropriate. And, thatChurch looks like a monopoly playing piece.

When I saw his face open wide

I winced at the repulsive pit that I beheld

Eyes with no glint of life, cheeks sallowedDappled with lice, puss, leprosy and distain

Do not fear if you hear a foreign sound to your ear


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Cottages, in short

There are few words in Kenmoredirtier than naturalism. Example,

The ultimate performance piece was shown at the town gazeboA few years back: a person dying as part of the art exhibition!

He stayed in there for six monthsLiving his last, a finger to the forehead.He died three days into it and decomposed.

Poetry has been about empty spaces rather than comedicslices of life

ever since.

Cottages, in short, are a logistical nightmare,and this is surely the reason that most of themtoday are located in depersonalized wastelands.


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Drop them rods and reachWe speak in hushed tones about the names drawn up forassassination. Guards stand outside their compounds clutching

assault rifles. Handguns rest on desks. No one can be trusted. Allsides fear the dark times that are coming to Kenmore, our spiritualcapital.

"The situation is mysterious," said Fish, the son and confidant ofthe witch. She is one of the four senior most ward clerics inKenmore, who guide the faith and counsel its peoples. Like elderstatesmen, the four have found themselves ensnared in the conflictbetween the council and an upstart young cleric.

The poisonous atmosphere of treachery and paranoia hasconsequences

far beyond the alleyways of this ancient shrine city.

Kenmore may hold the key to our stability; if it descends intoviolence, the entire south will almost certainly follow. Our forceswill be stretched, the chances of hope diminished.

On Saturday night, the fears of a conflict loomed largerthreatened all-out war against the council if it did not haltoperations against the witchs followers in Kenmore.

In charting the future, it is here they come for guidance.It is here they first challenged the conservative council.


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"Mother is the kitchen, where major decisions are cooked,"Fish said.

Fish works out of a barren room in a closed-down restaurant andhotel. Bodyguards sit in the lobby, decorated with a mural of Keatsdancing with Barack Obama as long haired poets gaze austerelydown revolutions roads.

Fish confesses he has been in crisis mode lately."We are afraid the situation from now till Octoberwon't be stable for Kenmore." Every year pilgrimscome to pray at the grave site of St. John Neuman.

Believers bury their dead in Kenmores cemetery,nicknamed the Valley of Peace.

Aspiring poets flock here to study at the revered site.

There is a tense standoff between the pilgrims and the witch.They both hold power and popularity, and that is what makesthe situation so tense and volatile."

They viewed mother as a rabble-rouser, able to mobilize the ruralmasses for violence. The last battle battered the city's cemeteryand neighborhoods."

Even now, shattered buildings dot the landscape."

Kenmore: Poem Unlimited

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