all scattered near a broken wall
            The sun remains behind. green pur-
            ple hill. Have some. {GOLD}

                                    25:X:71

      TO THE MEMORY OF

      Mr J who had been poor for years
      Inherited all the money in the world
      Bought a gun to blow a hole in his head
      To let in air and light he said
      To let me out

      Today, I have my head to shave
      There are lights and shadows in it
      All too soon empty open ashes
      Join mirthfully to earth

                              19:V:77

      FOR A BLUEJAY

           
      You're as smart as I am
      I'm as bright as you
      Mountain dances in sunlight,
     
      Dissolves in rain
      Clouds thin out, become cliffs and pinnacles
      Orange leaves, yellow truck remind me of squash flowers
      Rainbow striped bath towel melts on the clothesline

                                          12:XI:77

            THE CRITIC

      The trouble with you, Mr Brahms,
      are not as crazy as your friend
             Bob Schumann
      whose head spun tighter circles
      wheels that didn't roll quite
             so far

                          23:X:80

            "THE DILEMMA OF THE OCCASION IS"

      She says she's funny-looking
      She can't decide on hair nor clothes.
      There are too many shoes to wear.
      Almost every downtown corner
      Displays crippled, sick and dirty people
      Beat and tromped on. Others look
      For what to look at, watch to see
      If they are noticed
      Where to spend all this money.

                  "THAT GUY WAS CHECKING ME OUT!"
                  ______________________________

                  "SO MUCH FOR YOU, MR BUMFUCK"

      Too many shoes
      Those are not the ones.

                                                      25:XI:83

                  GOURMETS

      The moth wishes for a two-pants suit.
      His wife wants a fur coat:
      "Don't bother to wrap it;
      I'll eat it here."

                                    14:X:86

            MAPS AND MOUNTAINS

      California topo maps all rolled up
      ("Roll up the sky like a hide")
      Shall I ever be in those bright mountains, ever again?

                                          26:VII:86

            "MY FELLOW AMERICANS,"

the president used to call us,
all of them, all of us, all of me
      "a day late & a dollar short"
The black lady in the TV interview said
"all these Americans red, white, & blue—
rednecks, blue collars & white trash
all that's left is to start over—
Overcoming, all over, "We the people of the United States..."
You bet we shall.

           
                                    Santa Fe
                                    19:VI:87

            ACTION TRACTION SATISFACTION

I just don't think my blood circulates good any more.
Let sleeping minds lie. Let the old man go, git away!
      Fly to Oxnard or to heaven, whichever soonest,
                  Moving right along.
"I could just cry."

                        PART 2

The unrefrigerated cheese grew a rind;
It did not become soft & manageable, as I had planned.
I don't cry but I like to get my own way.
            "DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE!"

                                    Boulder
                                    23:VI:87

            NEVER AGAIN

Hot this morning, long before sunrise
All my bones ache and Rilke's ghost
Titters in the closet, Frailing
His clanky lyre. The summer grasshopper plague
May now be over.

            10:VIII:87
                  14:VIII:87

            THE EXPENSIVE LIFE

Tying up my plastic shoes
I realize I'm outside, this is the park & I am free
From whatever pack of nonsense & old tape loops
Play with the Ayer's dogs, Barney & Daphne
They don't ask me why I shave my head
"Cut the word lines," Burroughs recommends
Daphne & Barney fatter than ever & only I am dieting
(Crease along the dotted lines)
Loops of tacky thinking fall unloosed. The sun
Getting hotter than my flannel shirt requires
What about THE BUDDHIST REVIVAL IN CHINA?
Won't read it now... too blind to see it
Almost too blind to write this, in my room no flowers
The service station wants four bits for compresssed air
At only 16 pounds per square inch
I can see the farthest mountain.

                              29:VIII:87

            FRIDAY

Fried-A! and why not
Wake up in the middle of the night, enraged
From a dream of simple anger & annoyance
To this absurd & baseless ire (as in a crossword puzzle)
& hasten to remind myself I'm a lot more complicated
Than just "mad"—I'm also "interesting","silly", "peculiar", "fat"
only one flat spot on one of my wheels ka-blunk ka-blunk ka-blunk

                                          8:VII:88

                        MAMA

                  There you are, home from
                          your trombone lesson
                            carrying a violin case

                  Aren't you.
                  Where did you get it.
                          Take it right straight
                       
                              back     

    THE IMPERFECT SONNET

"The person of whom you speak is dead."
Where is the second crystal?
One came in last night & took it; this one
Held the papers on the table
Now I want topaze.

In the middle of the night—
The glass doors locked, nothing else missing
Worthless Quartz eccentrically shaped gone
As Emperor Nicholas Romanov
As "Bebe" Rebozo

Say that you love me say
That you will bring me
A delicious cup of coffee
A topaze cup! From Silesia—
Property of Hapsburg Emperors
The better crystal is upstairs.

                 
                        New Smyrna Beach
                        12:XI:88

NOTHING COMES TO MIND AT THE MOMENT

Spotty old man in the photo is me
Whose true age is 5 or 6
The stewardess asks, "Is there a problem?"
(I'm in the wrong seat)

But always new

                 
                        New Smyrna Beach
                        12:XI:88

Poems by Philip Whalen
Drawings by Nancy Davis

PHILIP WHALEN BIOGRAPHY

PHILIP WHALEN BIBLIOGRAPHY

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