Poetry from Mark Schwartz

 

Off an alley in North Beach, I spent my boyhood aspirations.

Smoking weed in Kerouac Alley and drinking from pitchers of beer in Specs

spewing words onto a page.

Some of the words came true, others melted like candle wax over a bridal bouquet.

I got divorced from that son of a bitch

who kept me up all night

Tied to a bed in handcuffs.

I wrote it all down, the screams, noise, words. How do you write noise?

Like this.

AARGHHHGGGRGGHH!!!

And that’s that.

 

— Mark Schwartz and Joie Cook

 

By recluse in the affinity of the time

I come to reckon my finances

and all that is due to me

The kingdom come, thy will be done

As it is in heaven and earth

 

Be sure to forgive those who trespass you

But keep the debts

 

Remember the earth (maye, gaye)

and its replenishment

 

Come flowers, come children

Long live life.

 

 

Most Beautiful of Women

I’m looking for the Woman,

At a time when ladies were supposed to be

ladies, Adler had “the face of the most beautiful of

women, and the mind of the most resolute of men,”

according to Wilhelm. She outwitted Holmes, and he

admired her for it.

…like Irene Adler,

Who chased down a scandal

in Bohemia

Before it could

Behead her

And her husband to be.

 

She has a love of chocolates

Which I love as well

As any maid

And a love of life

More so than Van Gogh

And the Paul he left behind

Or the secret marriage

He embraced.

 

She talks about a new bed,

But it’s unmade.

You brought her to tears

With a picture

Being worthy

Of more than 62 words.

 

You’ll feel sad

If you have to leave

Earlier than expected

And so, you lingered on

Telling her how much

Her expressions of love

Meant, “…more than humane

Language can perceptively describe.

 

Reading Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged

Could not keep the flame

Of your imagination

The way she could

With a glance

In any direction home.

 

As I try with therapeutic aide

To straighten my augmented hand

Derailed from my wrist

By the oncoming train,

I still can’t remember

Being swooshed aside

In its wind tunnel path

Only waking up in Highland’s

Intensive care unit

with phantom pain

For a leg gone missing

Below the knee cap.

 

And now, I’ll stop short

The way the train

Should have.

 

Hold Me Blind

 

The light held me

In its aura

While the venetian blinds

Prevent light from

The parking lot

From entering

The disparate room

That’s alright

I’m in a hospital

Just waking up

How did I arrive?

 

Luke’s dog is next to my bed

But what’s he doing here?

In the hospital

Like a waiting room

For those of us caught

Between worlds

Luke’s warm breath

Blows lightly across

My cheek

 

My waiting room

Gives friend’s dog

A chance to

Take a breather

From the sometimes

Wicked world

Gets you nowhere

 

Getting nowhere

Waiting for the boy

From Godot

Becket’s here too

Smoking a cigarette

And enjoying

An espresso

 

Everything’s related

To the accident

I remember

Walking across Gilman Street

Going to my storage space

To try and find

Joie’s painting

A picture is worth

Sixty-Two Words

And then

I awoke slowly

Out of a daze

Having left the fog and shadows

Of billowing shapes

In this twilight dimension

I inhabited for

It must have been

Hours

Seemed like seconds.

 

What happened to visits?

Reviewing and reliving

Moments with friends

 

What’s a review

From a room with no view?

At least it’s not

Like Redding Jail

When Oscar was

In the wilds

Of his imagination.

 

My computer is out

All I have is my

Will and wit

To save a tree

Sounds divinely inspired

No more penciling in

Empty spaces of

A crossword puzzle

 

The overflow of humanity

In this wafting region

Of life passing itself

Is overflow

Of consciousness

Murder me

If my beads of sweat

Could only join together

In a tapestry

Of Bach variations.

 

THE LIBERTY OF ARTISTS

Trapped in their rooms

Looking for the first air

Of liberty

Another city

On the planet

Third city match

Is a jest of thumping

When the rent

Is past due.

 

The freedom of getting arrested

Plus a free drink

At the taxpayer’s security

And, for a good cause.

 

Who’s on first?

Who’s on third?

Second place team

Surpassed first

Out to face

Our oppositions

And live by

Our suppositions

And face each other

Where we sing along

With our songs

From the hit parade.

 

Music is our word

The sound of May

More lunch over

Our world’s transformed

 

By the power of mommy

And mommy is daddy

Take my hand

Take my littlest finger

On the border

Between San Diego and Tijuana

On the border

Of love

Go

Give a rub

For the look of love

In your eyes

A lock of your hair

Reveals truth

As much as I surmise.

 

AGILE BONES

 

I was told that

In physical therapy

There was a person

Same condition I’m in

Except with both legs.

 

Very agile,

He exercised every day.

He was always talking

Vehemently and impassionately

On the phone

100 feet away

From my room.

 

With my memory gone

On the bulk

Of her conversation

Even while it was

Engrossing me,

I remember he said,

“I’m going to buy him

a Guinness.”

I yelled out,

“I’m going to pass

on the Guinness.”

 

He said,

“I don’t ever want

to hear the name

Mark Schwartz again.”

Gulp.

 

What plot and why?

 

Kidnapping is an exchange

For Guantanamo

Prisoners,

Whose agile bones

Are yet repressed.

 

There’s the fear of the crowds

for the crowds may take over

the police

and free all the prisoners.

 

Society’s most pressing solution for people is having compassion

and respect for those in need. Whether it is a homeless

person needing a home, food, social services and jobs

or an individual being allowed his/her civil liberty to

be able to sit or lie on the ground.

 

The solution I see is cutting the

military budget (i.e. nuclear weapons research –

8 1/2 billion) and everything else so that everyone has adequate

or more than adequate health care, education

and all other basic needs.

 

What this requires is massive lobbying (e.g. visits

to members of Congress, letter writing, social media)

and if necessary, protests on the streets including

civil disobedience.