Steve Dalachinsky

(of and for allen ginsberg)

outside     the streets are potholes and hills       the first snow’s rain
inside the   world  is ugly
climbers find their way to the top         the bottom blushes
the world is cramped  and ugly
the lines  are drawn                            spaces   paced   

he says he was abducted by aliens in the 60's
arms drooping with wounds   blue feet swollen
dollars delivered as marks   stigmata
we   are all  aliens     we must all have been  abducted
the light  surrounding the last stinging leaves
the  light it must have been abducted
the  final Games of the next to final year
wearing golden circles   around our muscles
the holy grail   rewriting history in a futile search for our ancestors
those that never existed in the first place
those that will be left at last
we have no origin
we must have been abducted
bottle to beetle
my 3rd day in a foreign land      
cloudless grey old city pointing to a window of  smoked eel and cold cuts
cut shaving  
my dream of young boys stealing young girls’ youth
the clouds what can i say about the clouds
the stream says something   it must have been abducted
the trees      the   obsessional behavior     converting   dollars to marks
counting over and over again
my sleep it must have been abducted
the wind   abducted 
coal mine  soft beer  salami   coffee tea
everywhere  mcdonald’s   forest   trash   big dogs small dogs    abduction
nettles     brick     horse shit   toilets
young boys stealing young girls’ youth   
kind pineapple nightfall
night and its cohorts          must  have been abducted
moon     meat     sky            night and its contingency
art without connection
over and over again               hours without connection
limbs without    connection
merchant
terrorist on a suicide mission    without a mission
filtering information
if it works   i will call it street  airport     days  desires  boom    #’s   bleeding
pockets   mustard   embrace   poetry  diahrea  sausage  asuage   speech  butter  buns
spoilage   pothole   hill    snow   ugly    bottom    

the bottom’s up 
it must have been abducted
the breathing bee
it must have been abducted
light   and light house
soap   prayer    survival     trauma
accident      loss    skyscraper  future   
abducted     country without connection
flirting with information
half spoon shot shiitake
sliced
my muscles  caught  in  the broth
skin   partially    peeled
up  all night  
brooding     solitary     jackoff
already the lonely powers of state
usurping the tenement streets
the fallen lamps   they must have been abducted
blind tears of death on a ghostly stone
structures and machinery 
dissolved in the green salt of nothing and nowhere 
alone
oh tender miseries    you must have been abducted
wrapped within a confession of shame
a piece of meat    half baked  
the vegetable mind sitting on the window    transformed
the flamenco strains of montoya  
beating against the frame with  his fingers
the scratches and clicks  the deep groove dips of the needle
resounding with his pulse
the pop the sugar and the cup
the soul rending creak
they must have been abducted

the mountains atop the tracks
the pebbles beneath the skin
hungry neighbors gnawing at my plaster walls
rust colored vocal chords
difficult to stop breathing
so difficult to stop breathing
my breath      it must have been abducted

responding    over   and    over     again
story without connection
life without connection
song without connection

radio   stream   ripple    bell
over  and over   again
3 days in a foreign body

i work on something 
to create  something
if it works i will call it  something
sky without connection
i visualize it
counting over and over
again
cables     wires     information
i create it
and if it works i will call it
moon  /    meat
cloud  /    war
labor  fulfilled
craft    illustrated
a long   walk
a day
maybe i will call it a day

man  canoe   power station  fumes
must have been abducted
speech silence tenderness death
must have been abducted
glass  telephone tequila  stubs  
must have been abducted 
dirty collars
must have been abducted
cacti    envelopes    shudders    wheels
must have been abducted
smiles   wills   sandwiches    must have been abducted   
the human heart
it must have been abducted
some of these  words
surely were abducted
these nightmares
must have been abducted


the lower east side
the ultimate railroad night
must have been abducted

the gates of iron mesh
must have been abducted

newly resurrected  pipes 
surely were abducted

lawyers  croakers    and spectral luminaries
must have been abducted

these  hands    these    hands
must have been abducted

these   eyes     these knees   this rounding  belly
must have been abducted

belly aching epiphanies

movies    shadows 
blankets  wallets   keys
ecstatic seraphim
insatiate incantations

bridges    hell  enchantment
must have been 
abducted

sawdust   ashes   dynamo
must have been abducted

sunflower      must have been abducted

poor   dead   industrial   hour        must have been abducted

must have been abducted    must   have been   abducted    abducted     abducted.....



                                                   nyc     11/2000  &  12/2000

Editor's Note: Steve Dalachinsky used to send me large blocks of work as submission — old work, new work, unpublished, published in little magazines or by small presses some years back, enough to be spread across several issues. When that feedstock was getting low I'd let him know, & another slab of his work would be sent for picking through. The above poem is from the last batch he sent, some months before his passing. It is, sadly, the last poem of his that Otoliths will be publishing.
 
 
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