Jonathan Williams

POEM BEGINNING WITH FIVE WORDS BY
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS

glory be to god
for jesse helms jesse
hates fags jesse hates
niggers jesse hates modern
art now that one
thinks about it jesse's
just like most people
in north carolina and
everywhere else what jesse
likes is beauty and
beauty's what bites you
on the butt and
don't leave a hickey
on monday morning we
must be kind to
jesse helms you must
brake for senior republican
senators from north carolina
he has the law
on his sidewinder snake
in the grass that
he is whether he
will brake for us
poets and artsnakes is
another matter thank you
jesus thanks a bunch

and remember to die

FURNITURE MUSIC:   "THREE-PIECE SUITE
IN THE SHAPE OF A PORRIDGE"

we feel ourselves among
Poets when entering
the rooms of Mackintosh
says Deutsche Kunst

chocolate eclair
chairs for fairies
declares Glasgow
laird

it often seems
as if the dream
were a personal aim
says Deutsche Kunst

la chair est triste
hissed Red-Hair
MacLank Shanks

O form divine, O attic, scotch-shaped
divanpoetical davenpoet!   --

settee, set-to

A VULNERARY
      for Robert Duncan

one comes to language from afar, the ear
fears for its sound-barriers   --

but one "comes"; the language "comes" for
The Beckoning Fair One

plant you now, dig you
later, the plaint stirs winter
earth...

air in a hornet's nest
over the water makes a
solid, six-sided music...

a few utterly quiet scenes, things
are very far away -- "form
is emptiness"

comely, comely, love trembles

and the sweet-shrub