Long Avant garde Poems

Eric Mottram on the American literary and cultural scene during 1965-66 while he was the recipient of the American Learned Societies’ award for a year. (begun in the last post and to be continued)

January 2,...

Read More

Greetings to those who would willingly seek admission to theater of the absurd. Zoltan Goliath and Otis Trench are masters of the avant-garde genre silent musicals for the imaginary stage, an art form sui generis....

Read More

It was September 
Of one thousand 
Nine hundred seven
The end of summer
With apples lying thickly
Under the apple trees
And the smell of Autumn
Covering the grass
Filled with ripe yellow
And orange squash
He was born in a little
Wooden house...

Read More

Poetic Encryption Like Ancient Egyptian

This terror and threat to poetic clarity,
Becomes a pet rock for some poets.

Words do count for sure, but so does
Clarity unless poets put a mask on.

Encryption can be used to mask...

Read More

FICTIONAL BIO:

The missus asked me
(hitherto known as her bozo)
just mere moments ago
to craft humorous poem to glow
nsync with the shiny nose of Rudolph
keeping syncopated metrical flow
thus methought to crow
about being equally as foolish
streaking naked outside...

Read More

The last time you felt good, you played along with them, and they were fooled
The feeling inside was blue and you always considered the suicide rendezvous
It’s when you can’t laugh or cry, and feel it’s...

Read More

Stood upright, between two roads,
On a thin metal rail,
A solitary, brown coloured bottle 
Of beer,                    ...

Read More

"Angel Eyes" 

that dark angel
standing in the corner
observing the shadows of man 
pass him by -

he has angel eyes

that shine high beam
bright bushfires that light 
the entire transparent 
padded room parade

dance cards lit 
he’s biding...

Read More

PERSONIFIED LIGHTED CANDLE:

Come on, I'm strong and edified.
No one can hold me in detention for getting them defied.
Compared to Cassius Clay; fiercely bonified.
A firmly personified lighted candle on a lampad. 
In the corners of every...

Read More

As the odyssey in the skiff continued a more sentient being begun to appear,
At times feeling as a eunuch who was unable to change anything,
In zenith of toxicity as miasma on a cold misty morning.
What...

Read More

What is a thought?
What is not?
Not making a confession
Not impressed by expression
Expression that hides
Expression that guides
Guides my poetic heart
Guides my collective art
Art can attract
Art is abstract
Abstract like mankind
Abstract is the mind
Mind is no Gestapo
Mind is...

Read More

PAUL VALERY TRANSLATION: “SECRET ODE”

“Secret Ode” is a poem by the French poet Paul Valéry about collapsing after a vigorous dance, watching the sun set, and seeing the immensity of the night sky as the...

Read More

Can intimacy be labeled as de trop?
I don't think. My sister offers me critique
Of such silly actions! But I still crave more!
Our nights together were just majestique.

Before heading out we take aperitif
By the pool, in...

Read More

Imagination is the natural ability with which every human being is endowed.
Therefore, it is conceivable to say that everything will become allowed 
by completely envisioning the unforeseen-yet things, that are going to be wowed, 
while...

Read More

***  Devoted, Choosing  to Hold ***

Engaged
By your spirit; 
My heart to yours; my heart’s hoping ~
Choosing,
Not that long after we met.  
Completely to embrace you.
And you,
Losing your heart to me,  choosing
To...

Read More

Numerous number systems beyond the real:
complex numbers, octonions, omnions which can eat whole black holes.
It's axiomatic that your personal history, preferences, how you feel
account for nothing at all.

$30 buys a flock of chickens for a...

Read More

I see you hipsters in rustic coffee shops with pictures of Marlyn Monroe and contemporary art, 
the girl in all black with a black beret to make her look more avant-garde and red colored hair...

Read More

I saw society drain away to the gutter on the street
How I wished I could help the disheartened ones we meet
Everyone effected by the thoughtless acts of disregard.
Passion within to change this soulless way, how...

Read More

SHOCKING!!!!!!!! WHAT? THAT?


Bad taste?
They know not what is at stake
They do as they please
Then later beg for forgiveness
A right sin
And a dismal business

Nothing is shocking anymore
To thump each other
They go to the extremes of bad...

Read More

Let me show you the perimeter first Diamond with cool edges like water
Upon the shroudless sunshine of thirst That is the constellation he was after
Four well clad figures on the perimeter And a single soul...

Read More

While ambling down the boulevard,
I spied a swanky canopy.
As member of the avant-garde,
The classy bistro suited me.

When greeted by the maitre'd,
I nonchalantly said, "Just one."
He smiled and nodded graciously.
My gourmand venture had begun.

As soon as...

Read More

Be not the dilettante from lack nor want                           ...

Read More

Avant Garde declarations of flawed misunderstanding
Ethereal hand's star cast thought's scattered materialised being
From under stones crept
To kindle fires of imagination's spawning grounds
Turned over in tumultuous caverns of repressed understanding
Unbound suddenly as spring leaves answer a...

Read More

Hackneyed breath of words and the clichés hit the wall, 
A stream of summoned nonsense bounces off of me like superstition,
Benevolent limits of indulgence, on the other hand, - oh, well!

The oeuvre of life, I...

Read More

That evening
we took a flat-bottomed boat
and swam it up the Thames.
Douglas the middle-aged queer
served martinis out of a crystal pitcher.
Lurching for lips, he kissed me.
I was surprised how sweet it felt.
Jenny in a canvas chair,...

Read More