Carl Rakosi

Aubade

It is the springtime
of the year.

A small untidy artist
with an earnest

look
walks by, into

the fresh morning
to hear

the small birds sing
their song,

as on a dulcimer.

And on a park bench
an elderly couple

are talking: how bad
the business was

in those years and all
the petty incidents

that bedeviled them.
The Song of Years.

Eye to Eye

You,
     with the missionary eye,
I meet you,
          eye to eye
          
at The Holocaust Memorial
          with the invective I:
          
Drop Dead!

Gravediggers

Dimitry: Look at this headstone:

                  Joseph Addison
         b. Nov. 6, 1903, d. Sept. 12, 1989
    A MAN OF UNSWERVING INTEGRITY
    
Dimitry: This guy must have come from The 
         Home for Comedians.

Gregory: Why do you say that?

Dimitry: For once I'd like to see one that reads:

                  Joseph Addison
               Here lies one who declares
                   as God is his witness
              that he was an ordinary fellow
                     inoffensive
               with all his cash in bonds.

Gregory: That'll be the day!

Dimitry: Let's bury this poor bastard now. 
         Another one will be coming along 
         soon.

---

Born in 1903, Carl Rakosi, is the one of the original Objectivist poets, as defined by the February 1931 issue of Poetry magazine--a legendary group that included George Oppen, Charles Reznikoff, and Louis Zukofsky. His most recent book is The Old Poet's Tale (Etruscan Books, 1999). He lives in San Francisco. contents | previous | next