Anaesthetics
[adapted from The Pataquerical Imagination in Pitch of Poetry]
The turn away
from beauty
or emotion, like the
aversion of identity or
expression, may be both a response
to the shallowness
of what is accepted
as
beautiful
or
emotional
& a mark
of the search for beauty
or affect,
a beauty or affect not already trapped
& tamed.
For if you say
what I find beautiful
is worthless, then I
may say I
reject beauty, but that is
just a measure of my
recognition of how categories
of the beautiful
anaesthetize
you from the experience
of
beauty. For some, it
is only
in renouncing the
beautiful that the
possibility
of
beauty
opens.
& those of
you who
lament this
turn away
-336from beauty
or emotion,
compulsively pro-
claiming its
return,
do not, perhaps cannot
understand
what
it is to be
outside
the script, dead
as you are to
sensation, oblivious to
beauties that cannot be
dreamt of in your
moralities.
Sign of the Times
by John Yau
The Administrator of Happier Times will see you now.
Please be advised that your problems are not unique.
The solution our committee selects for you is only a remedy.
Not everything will fade instantly, but this does not mean
That the stains will persist, a lone mosquito in your ear, when
All else fails, and you are left with nothing but your hands
Which are empty, as they should be. Do not despair.
The Administrator of Happier Times will greet you now.
It is your only chance at gaining an advantage
Over all that ails you, those mid-morning bumps
With murky minutes wobbling behind your eyes.
Please be advised, the Administrator of Happiness
Will personally lead you to your seat when all else fails.
Music from Childhood
by John Yau
You grow up hearing two languages. Neither fits your fits
Your mother informs you moon means window to another world.
You begin to hear words mourn the sounds buried inside their mouths A row of yellow windows and a painting of them
Your mother informs you moon means window to another world. You decide it is better to step back and sit in the shadows
A row of yellow windows and a painting of them
Someone said you can see a blue pagoda or a red rocket ship
You decide it is better to step back and sit in the shadows
Is it because you saw a black asteroid fly past your window
Someone said you can see a blue pagoda or a red rocket ship
I tried to follow in your footsteps, but they turned to water
Is it because I saw a black asteroid fly past my window
The air hums — a circus performer riding a bicycle towards the ceiling
I tried to follow in your footsteps, but they turned to water
The town has started sinking back into its commercial
The air hums — a circus performer riding a bicycle towards the ceiling
You grow up hearing two languages. Neither fits your fits
The town has started sinking back into its commercial
You begin to hear words mourn the sounds buried inside their mouths
Unemployed, Living In A Caravan — And Now, Winner Of A $165,000 Literary Prize
Poets receive gifts from unexpected places (and sometimes think they’re spam:) #poetry #gratitude #greatstories