from Report from the Betts Society, Vol. 1 No. 1
1
among
twenty snowy trees or carp
the
only moving thing cable television
carp
or tree the cruelest math
maxing
out the memory of desire
carp
or tree the crippled moth
melting
into the moonlight of desire
carp
or tree the crinolined myth
moving
in the matrimony of desire
carp
or tree the uncreative morph
meditating
the mission of desire
your
celebrity here the memory of desire
maxing
out the cruelest math
your
celebrity here the moonlight of desire
melting
the crippled moth
your
celebrity here the matrimony of desire
moving
the crinolined myth
if
that I wandered lonely as Russell Crowe
meditating
the mission of desire
the
uncreative morph
hungry
through the desert of the meal
Milton
among twenty snowy clarinets
the
only moving thing Charlie Sheen
let
me confrere thee
Kenny
or Donna Summer's "Day"
and
there he was, once
upon
a carp or a tree
a
dark and requesting stormy knight
and
all afternoon:
snow,
Dolly the Cloned Sheep, Marlon Brando
darkness
a blackbird lost between
the
recently opened shoestore and the lilacs
winking
to bloom
2
I
will show you
life,
friends
lonely
as a cloud
measured
in coffee spoons
a
beauty like the night
the
listing follows
go
girl from Nantucket.
a
better man than I
your
sleeping head, my love
clean
and in-between the sheets
go
turning & turning the widening marriage of true minds
a
sea-change, lovely as a tree
listen
my children
how
do I love thee?
lords
and owners of their faces
go
where the cotton blooms and blows
3
I
think I know which woods these are
in
the valley of death
tiddly
pom
these
aren’t pillows
repress
free speech these sentences
the
best minds show you fear
go
whooping it up
rainy
day
nothing
was stirring
they
fuck you up your parents
and
then gentle down to the ship
the
surly bonds of earth
4
go
because I could not stop for death
go
midnight ride his house in the village
go
cruel April where the cotton blooms and blows
my
heart broken permanently
go
into the valley of death
go
all through the house
strange
things in the midnight
a
moocow coming along the road
the
mud clot the bedded axle tree
go
garlic and sapphires
whence
I had strayed, was lost
bird
thou never wert
go
if I should die
think
only this of me
5
the
atom and the fish are permitted to return to a meadow
the
atom shrub and the shrub, too, dislike it
the
atom fish and the fish shrub took the one less traveled by
the
fish atom and the atom atom have slipped the surly bonds of earth
have
strayed, were lost
if
the shrub and the atom should die, think only fish
the
shrub and the fish pour alone but with no atom at hand
the
fish atom and the fish shrub lift the cup to invite the shining atom
the
atom and the fish make the moon atom and the fish shrub their company
the
atom and the fish are singing
the
shrub atom sits, brokenhearted
the
fish and atom may never cease to find
when
the shrub atom and the fish fish saw shadows
on
their way down from heaven
of
atoms and the man
the
atom and the shrub and the fish sing
the
shrub fish atom and the fish atom think that they
shall
never see an atom shrub lovely
as
an atom atom and fish
6.
big
bangs big bang my big bangful big bangs
and
big bangs big bang my desire of big bangs
big
banged big bangs big bang them
for
big bangs love big banged big bangs
big
bangs feed me
for
I am the steadfast big banged big bang
big
bang of tears big bang my fountainous big banged big bangs
big
bang these unmeasurable big banged big bangs
O
small big bangs with many big banged big bangs big bang the big bangs
for
big banged big bangs remain big banged big bangs
big
banged big bangs place great trust in big banged big bangs
O
the burdens of big banged big banging big bangs for big bangs big bang bid banged
big bangs
ay,
under craggy big bangs big bangs have barren big banged big bangs
hard
big banged big bang thoughts big bang my woeful big bang big bang thoughts
big
banged big bangs are the big bangs who big bang big banged big bangs
hot
big bangs big bang big bangs with their big banging big banged big bangs
big
banged big bangs big bang big banged big bangs through my big banging big
banged big bang throat
for
big banging big banged big bangs big bang and big bang the big banged big bang
tune and expanding note
Gary
Barwin is
a writer, composer, musician, and multidisciplinary artist and has published 26
books of fiction, poetry and numerous chapbooks. He has three books out in 2022:
Bird Arsonist (with Tom Prime), The Fabulous Op (with Gregory
Betts) and The Most Charming Creatures. His most recent books include
the novel, Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted: The Ballad of Motl the
Cowboy, winner of the Canadian Jewish Literary Award. His national
bestselling novel Yiddish for Pirates won the Stephen Leacock Medal for
Humour and the Canadian Jewish Literary Award, was a finalist for both the
Governor General’s Award for Fiction and the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and was
long listed for Canada Reads. His music is available at
https://garybarwin.bandcamp.com/ and https://gbap.bandcamp.com/ A PhD in music composition, his writing,
music, media works and visuals have been presented and broadcast
internationally He lives in Hamilton, Ontario and at garybarwin.com
