Anselm Berrigan, p.1
PICTURES FOR PRIVATE DEVOTION
What I thought was a headless bird was really a bodyless leg
The other day I killed ten thousand Philistines with the jawbone of
a daffodil
There's no room in my life for a sign
I stepped inside a flying saucer & abducted an alien
It was a tedious experience
Left an opinion in another man's shirt that night
The voices I hear politely make space for each other
I took off the west & put on the slightly less west
Keeping a rendezvouz with the passout
Mom shuts her eyes & sees pterodactyls
Neither keen naturalist nor general reader am I fine fringes &
velvety pile
There is always an animal giving grateful thanks
For my own strength would never suffice unaided by strength out of dark
A rock, I mean, has content
Burning the mouth splendidly
I had never before seen blood in his hands except in the teaming seas
Wherever I go a host of wild & not so wild life tags on behind
A few degrees of tilt to make the view pretty
The forest owlet seems to have disappeared from the habitat where it
had always been rare
Three hundred bodies from the commune in the artificial lake
My confidants include the falling apart coat & the untied boot
With respect & love I got lost leaving your apartment
Suddenly lizards had feathers & I left my room & happily nothing
Fight the bar downstairs
To sneeze in a vacuum & fuck off at work
A pixel with meaning
Is it a mirage I want to reject or is something too painfully happening
A present or baffled weather & theoretical jealousy
Being being not careful or be more things
I read all their works, I read all yours too
There will never be any more suspicion than there is now
I'll never have to breathe in you more than I do now
He woke up happy having never really slept
& borrowed a couple thousand from the first available human
As a theory I was always on the verge
As a cheeseburger I was prepared
I began in a failed society
According to several private polls
I can occasionally unscrew something
This poem is a substitute for my arms
Anyone has a part of the body that generates more heat than all
the rest
Texas never whispers
Accused by the landlord of taking unruly showers
The ATM machine asked "can you continue?"
& I said "yes I can" because it's the only thing to do
As insignificant a dissolution as I could cherish
I apologize for being so mean in your dream
I heard voice-mail messages in my dream
Sweet pea speak to me
Then lies my house upon my nose
There's a softness to refusing all of you in yours & me in mine
My a purty outhouse
If it's explainable it can't be a miracle but I can't explain anything
so everything's a miracle
I blew the president I didn't inhale
Never again the horseface, never again the dew
Success is the lowest art
There are cameras in the branches but the trees are the dealers
What I thought was a headless bird was really a bodyless leg
The other day I killed ten thousand Philistines with the jawbone of
a daffodil
There's no room in my life for a sign
I stepped inside a flying saucer & abducted an alien
It was a tedious experience
Left an opinion in another man's shirt that night
The voices I hear politely make space for each other
I took off the west & put on the slightly less west
Keeping a rendezvouz with the passout
Mom shuts her eyes & sees pterodactyls
Neither keen naturalist nor general reader am I fine fringes &
velvety pile
There is always an animal giving grateful thanks
For my own strength would never suffice unaided by strength out of dark
A rock, I mean, has content
Burning the mouth splendidly
I had never before seen blood in his hands except in the teaming seas
Wherever I go a host of wild & not so wild life tags on behind
A few degrees of tilt to make the view pretty
The forest owlet seems to have disappeared from the habitat where it
had always been rare
Three hundred bodies from the commune in the artificial lake
My confidants include the falling apart coat & the untied boot
With respect & love I got lost leaving your apartment
Suddenly lizards had feathers & I left my room & happily nothing
Fight the bar downstairs
To sneeze in a vacuum & fuck off at work
A pixel with meaning
Is it a mirage I want to reject or is something too painfully happening
A present or baffled weather & theoretical jealousy
Being being not careful or be more things
I read all their works, I read all yours too
There will never be any more suspicion than there is now
I'll never have to breathe in you more than I do now
He woke up happy having never really slept
& borrowed a couple thousand from the first available human
As a theory I was always on the verge
As a cheeseburger I was prepared
I began in a failed society
According to several private polls
I can occasionally unscrew something
This poem is a substitute for my arms
Anyone has a part of the body that generates more heat than all
the rest
Texas never whispers
Accused by the landlord of taking unruly showers
The ATM machine asked "can you continue?"
& I said "yes I can" because it's the only thing to do
As insignificant a dissolution as I could cherish
I apologize for being so mean in your dream
I heard voice-mail messages in my dream
Sweet pea speak to me
Then lies my house upon my nose
There's a softness to refusing all of you in yours & me in mine
My a purty outhouse
If it's explainable it can't be a miracle but I can't explain anything
so everything's a miracle
I blew the president I didn't inhale
Never again the horseface, never again the dew
Success is the lowest art
There are cameras in the branches but the trees are the dealers