Ken Bolton

The Stars—a cosmology

 “So, Mister, Mister DJ, keep those records spinning”

                                                  (for Lou, Patti, Thelma, the Christines)



                                                      The Thelmas
                                                         
       
& there is Seneca, of course,
                                                               the property tho

of Thomas ‘Sphere’ Eliot


                                                         The Pleiades

                                          
The wisdom   of Jimmy Barnes

                                                                    —wide, comprehending—

(“I’d die to be 
with you tonight”)
                                                                                         #

                                                                               tho  “ JIMMY LIVES! ”

                                                                                 (old saying)

                                                                                          #

                              from the night sky:— 

                                              
                                                                          the Thelmas

                                          look down

                                                                           stellar twins
                                                                           kindly divinities

                                                                                                              wise, consolatory

                                                                    they do not forgive
                                                                    they do not forget
                                                                    they accept

                                                                             #

                                                                        here I sit

                                                   on this bench,
                                                   (stile almost),
                                                   (simple ‘form’) —

                                                                   & gaze out —
                                                                   upon the round slope,
                                                                   of the hill, as it falls away—
                                                                   sered grass, the limbs &
                                                                   stems of the gums—('die-back')—

                                                                   to the vast pond of blue


                                                                                                           Kangaroo Island


                                                   #



                                       blue   orange   silver



                                                   #

                                                                                      where I lived once
                                                                         for a week


                                           the Christines


                                                                                       Irwin & O’Connor

                                The Caths
                                                                                       Catherine Murphy, Cath Cantlon


Dejection?  an Ode?


                                                       “(O)des”  —  think Keats
                                                                         O’Hara, Pindar

                                                                                          would Adorno figure,
                                                                                          here, amongst these tutelary
                                                                                                                     figures?


                   The Johns, Forbes & Jenkins —
                   & Glenn Johns

                                                              The Thelmas,

                                                                               (Ritter & Todd)


                              who 
                 look down judiciously


                                                  with some pity?  some
                                                                       gesture
                                                        …  of acknowledgement ?


— Mistakes,
               Errors Of Judgement —

                                                                 Thelma warned of them

suffered for them

                                                                                          To dance, to
                                                                                          hot cha-cha

                                                          & die
                                                                                   expire upon
                                                                                   a car seat in
                                                                                   a garage the
                                                                                   motor running

                                      wearing a boa



                                                                   The dead Ted

                                                                    &  O’Hara


                                                                           we who are about to hot cha-cha …
                                                                                                                                         etcetera

John Barbour

                                         Freddy King.

                                                                                                 MONTY!

                                                          ( Rommel ?? )
                                                                                                        Montgomery Clift 

(though
                   was he  
                                     a  
                                            “young lion” ? )

                                                                                        who might have played him,
                                                                                        in the bio pic we will never have


                                                                        the live a-hunted
                                                                                & the dead a-huntin’

                                                                                                   [O’Hara]

               JOHN    —    & his “luminous hum”

                                                                                      we/I   salute him

                                                                                 and the hornet
            Jimmy chased from the room
                                                                                            outside

                                                     to some “various field”


                                                                      the stars, that look down

protectively
                                              On me,  on Catherine

                                                                                              — no, not

                                                                                                   the city,

                                           ( near Darwin, Alice Springs )

Cath Kenneally


                                                    that look down, maybe,
                                                      on Tony Towle
                                                                                       that look down,
at least, ‘in’ him
                                     — tho where?  in which?
                                                                                 
                                                                     in some, surely —
                                                                                 

      as he goes
        to Bloomingdales


                                                                           On Pam & Jane,
the stars look down
                                                    on Rosemary & Laurie

                                                                           on Banana & Chris

& Gabe & Stacey
                                                        on Yuri,  on Yuki

                                                                     & Tengis & Gerel

on Noah,   & Teague & Jude & Ryder

                                                                                  Clinton!

                                                                       Clinton Kenneally—
                                                                       (not George, not Bill)

all is forgiven

                                            Thelma Ritter, look after them

                          Give them some good times   (Lou, Patti, Thelma T  …


                                                                   (Sam Cooke)
                                                                                                        )


                        if you take requests

                                        #

     Play that song called ‘Soul Twist’



                                        LITTLE ELEGY, 1984
                             


I shudder while feeling quite happy—I have just read a Ted Berrigan 
poem, while I have seen a jar of Cow gum look 'clean' but 'sickening'.
At the same time.  You can do this when you're stoned.  And now,
the cat gets back, 
                               to my lap, 
                                                   from the table, 
                                                                               as I had told it it would—
just a while ago.  
                                 The radio's going & has just explained that the 
bassoon is only 'good' for Satire & Mourning.  
                                                                                   And there's a lot of 
slow ‘mourning’ on, & has been for some time.
                                                                                      (I don't mind.  
The cat doesn't seem to care either.  The cat I think prefers mourning 
... to satire.  "I'll do the satire around here ... (if anyone's going to do satire)"
is her attitude.  "This's good," she adds.)

                                                                     I'd like to have ‘just met’ Ted 
Berrigan
                   & got along with him.  I've been in mourning, for him, 
ever since I found out he'd died.
                 
                                                                        #

                                                          Quite a while ago now.

                                                                        #

   
               It changes the poems somehow, a little.  It's true: 
               something I guess mournful is happening, I can't 
               do anything about it.

Ken Bolton's STARTING AT BASHEER'S has just been released by Vagabond Press.
 
 
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