To Live to Bleed for Glory
(for Duane Locke)
I’ve gone back to the basics.
Back to my notebooks from my
teens.
That’s where the fearlessness
lives.
That’s where I find the poems
that are not poisoned by the
prospect
of someone prodding them,
judging them, staring at them
from head to toe. This is
where I find
True Poetry. Poetry that wants
nothing more
than to push! Poetry that is
screaming
for the bending of the
envelope!
Poetry that is likely not
going to ever be published
because it’s not an “imitation
of poetry”
which is the wretched dreck
that has swallowed
the soul of Contemporary
Poetry. Professors and editors
have never been more off the
mark than today.
Still, the “masa confusa”
shines, in pencil
and in pen, when I look back
at those teenage pages!
Others will never know of them
but at least
I know they exist which is
more than enough for me!
The Truth is, Academia must
die for True Poetry to live.
Simple fact. Academia = jobs =
the necessity for the celebration
of mediocrity = the need to
“put a finger on” what poetry
is/can be = at the end of the
day, money.
I know that wall is thick and
made of concrete and metal.
I know that the first one
through the wall is always the bloodiest.
For fucks sake, my head has
been bleeding for the past four years!
I will ram my head against
that wall day in and day out.
I will sacrifice myself for
all those who’ve been dinging
away at that wall for their
entire lives!
I will be the one with the
blood and no glory
because I was never here for
glory. I’ve always
been smashing at that wall
for full velocity limitless
poetry
and blood is much more
beautiful than glory could ever be.
I see Felino Soriano starting
to fade a bit! This
TRAVESTY must NEVER happen.
How many other geniuses have
fallen through the cracks of history?
Why doesn’t Heller Levinson
win the Pulitzer Prize
every year he publishes a new
book?
I do not think those who want
to cage poetry
and keep it in nice and neat
rows
have any idea how fuckin
serious,
and dangerous, I Truly fuckin
am!
I promise you, though, they
will find out!
