BEAUTY

“Truth,” he said in 1819
“Nonsense candy, Schonberg!” I retorted in 2009
but I didn’t stop there
a sweater full of pills
Vermont suddenly declaring pot legal
the five-year-old’s flashing sneakers
her panties as I am pulling them off
etc.

when you turn the spell checker off
time dies and is reborn
I finally shut my mouth about beauty
sex depicted on a stained glass window
whether we win or lose
life encased in plastic
all the hours spent studying it from outside

how we whistle before our freight train derails
now you can moan like you mean it
now you can play the piano like a toddler
now you can come home meowing for milk after rolling in the dirt
now you can wish the murderer were never born
now you can understand why the word war is so much worse than fuck or pussy

philosophy is a beautiful armored tank
the geese are all tuned up
it’s good to wash the mirror once in awhile
after I finished filing away my important papers I closed the cabinet and the handle came off
if I hadn’t gotten saliadenitis I wouldn’t have met Gina
love is always wrong but beauty couldn’t care less

here comes opus 25
I was small and my father made me smaller
there will never be enough poems
the juncos decide to put their nest on my air conditioner
Sneaky Piet, the boogie woogie man
brown shoes don’t make it
allusive, cryptic, I comb my long dark hair