In this mad effort to reclaim myself from the mess I'm in, I thought the following poem by Gregory Corso especially suitable for the evening. I heard him read it in the winter of 1981 at the Fifth Annual Santa Cruz Poetry Festival not long after I left the Krsna Movement. It was a weekend event. Baraka, Acker, Ferlinghetti, Rothenberg, Kaufman, di Prima, Reed, Corso, William Everson, Micheline, John Chance, Wanda Coleman, Country Joe McDonald were there among many others. It was pretty insane but wonderful. I had been in the movement many years so I was still reeling from having just thrown God and Truth and Hope and all the rest of it out my window. Actually, I didn't throw Them out the window. I jumped. Anyway, I always liked that Corso ran downstairs and caught Beauty before she hit the ground. Then sent her on her way.
The Whole Mess ... Almost
I ran up six flights of stairs
to my small furnished room
opened the window
and began throwing out
those things most important in life
First to go, Truth, squealing like a fink:
"Don't! I'll tell awful things about you!"
"Oh yeah? Well, I've nothing to hide ... OUT!"
Then went God, glowering & whimpering in amazement:
"It's not my fault! I'm not the cause of it all!" "OUT!"
Then Love, cooing bribes: "You'll never know impotency!
All the girls on Vogue covers, all yours!"
I pushed her fat ass out and screamed:
"You always end up a bummer!"
I picked up Faith Hope Charity
all three clinging together:
"Without us you'll surely die!"
"With you I'm going nuts! Goodbye!"
Then Beauty ... ah, Beauty --
As I led her to the window
I told her: "You I loved best in life
... but you're a killer; Beauty kills!"
Not really meaning to drop her
I immediately ran downstairs
getting there just in time to catch her
"You saved me!" she cried
I put her down and told her: "Move on."
Went back up those six flights
went to the money
there was no money to throw out.
The only thing left in the room was Death
hiding beneath the kitchen sink:
"I'm not real!" It cried
"I'm just a rumor spread by life ..."
Laughing I threw it out, kitchen sink and all
and suddenly realized Humor
was all that was left --
All I could do with Humor was to say:
"Out the window with the window!"
- Gregory Corso
Gregory Corso poetry
3 comments:
I heard him read it in Santa Cruz in the winter of 1980...
That must have been awesome.
What a fun project - to clean your office (no, really, I mean it!) Did you take care to look out for what you put in the creativity sector?! ;-)
Now I want to get out my Feng Shui book and work on my whole flat!
I need to paint - that's what I really need to do. The colors are just wrong over here...
He was a very powerful reader, not a droner in the usual "beat" fashion.
Yes, redoing my office is not only a response to what has been an ongoing, slow developing disaster. It is fun. I hope to put myself in the creativity sector ... ;-) I'm very attached to my window view however no matter what sector it's in so am still negotiating where my computer will go not to mention the fact that moving it and the printers and the many accompanying wires is a daunting task.
I hate moving the computer. The worst thing is trying to figure out which a/c power adapter goes with which peripheral device since using the wrong adapter can, according to all the manuals, have catastrophic results up to and including warranty invalidation.
I am not in the creativity section here. My new file cabinet is, though.
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