673-
Sontag reviving Godot in Sarajevo.
An act of faith. Hope. Or madness.
Durrenmatt. Remember Durrenmatt.
No. The Visit. “Better to watch than
think about later.” Applies to Beckett too.
The Physicists. Endgame. Life in a trash
can. A domestic arrangement. Waiting
for the man to come. For. The. Nuclear
winter.
674-
Writing in semi-trance. Like
Yeats. Like his wife, Georgie.
Who cheated at Ouija board.
And what about James Merrill’s
paramour. Was he a cheat at
Windhover. At Sandover.
Seemed awfully convenient.
Having that gift. Not a Nabokov.
This is. A Gift “An oak is a tree.
A rose is a flower. A deer is an animal.
A sparrow is a bird. Russia is
our fatherland. Death is inevitable.”
679-
A History of Present Illness
The Doctor Is Sick. Dr. No.
Fleming or Everett. Both.
Illness as Metaphor. Cancer.
Ward. Medicine for Melancholy.
(Again) Homesickness. Stories.
Subterranean Homesick Blues.
Songs. Blue Bayou (Again and
again). Dark as the Grave Wherein
My Friend Is Lain. Giving up the
Ghost. Writer.
680-
Operation Delirium. Wars without
Killings. Clouds of physicochemical(s)
instead. Like the movie. The Fog.
Shadow and Fog. Like a frat party.
Seduction involving roofies.
Interrogation involving LSD.
Defenestration follies. Flexible flying.
Like a Leonard Michaels story. Wear
your Air Jordans and soar. Your Keds
treads. Hard landings happen. Go
ask Francesca. Woodman.
682-
Sex in outer space. The concept.
The practice. No shortage of male
volunteers. Not a Playboy presentation.
Not NASA sanctioned either. Yet.
Raunch-O-Rama. Presents. Trailers
and features. A sub-rosa media giant
in their chosen field. A real growth
industry. To pun or not pun that is
the question. In the morning. In the
evening. Ain’t, we got fun. Tits on
the Moon. The poetry collection.
683-
Meme wars. Like chemically induced
paranoid thinking. Mass delusions.
Better than brainwashing. Social media.
Consciousness raising or consciousness
debilitating. Tactically induced seizures.
Dizziness. Fear. Operation Delirium in action.
Twitter. Panic. Hysteria. Hallucinations.
Migraines. Suicidal ideation. Like planking.
Only fatal. Virgin Suicides. What a waste.
C.I.A. Fucking C.I A. Living in the USA.
685-
Imagine a cocktail party of 1957 army
officers. And their respectives. And
an LSD punch. Not a moment in Fear
and Loathing in Las Vegas. Book or movie.
In real life. Just to see what would happen.
Imagine the whole base’s water supply
laced. Superiors “were pissed” when
they found out about the punch. It sounded like
a good idea in theory. At the lecture.
In the position paper. After the euphoria came
Severe depression. Anxiety. Abject fear(s).
“I feel like I’m fixin’ to die.”
With Country Joe. Take a trip with Peter
Fonda. Hare brained scientific experiment
Or good clean fun. None of this is made up.
3 thoughts on “Poetry from Alan Catlin”
great poems Alan
I like the sense of urgency that comes across in your poems, as well as the sense of depth, and peeks behind the curtain.
Following up on the literary references in your poems was a great adventure. Learned a lot.
great poems Alan
I like the sense of urgency that comes across in your poems, as well as the sense of depth, and peeks behind the curtain.
Following up on the literary references in your poems was a great adventure. Learned a lot.