Kenneth Patchen

WHERE?

There’s a place the man always sayCome in here, childNo cause you should weepWolf never catch such a rabbitGolden hair never turn white with griefCome in here, childNo cause you should moanBrother never hurt his brotherNobody here ever wander without a homeThere must be some such place somewhereBut I never heard of it

The Orange bears with soft friendly eyes

Christ, before I’d left home they’d hadTheir paws smashed in the rolls, their backsSeared by hot slag, their soft trustingBellies kicked in, their tongues rippedOut, and I went down through the woodsTo the smelly crick with WhitmanIn the Haldeman-Julius edition,And I just sat there worrying my thumbnailInto the cover—What did he know aboutOrange bears with…

Man-dirt and stomachs that the sea unloads; rockets

putting their malethings in any hole that will stand still,yapping bloody murder while they slice off each other’s heads,spewing themselves around, priesting, whoring, lordingit over little guys, messing their pants, writing gush-notesto their grandmas, wanting somebody to do something pronto,wanting the good thing right now and the bad stuff for the other boy.Gullet, praise God…

That should be obvious

Any fool knows that.Even in the winter.Consider for a moment.What?Consider what!They never have.Why now?Certainly it means nothing.It’s all a lie.What else could it be?That’s right.Sure.Any way you look at it.A silk hat.A fat belly.A nice church to squat in.My holy ass…What should they care about?It’s quaint.Twelve kids on the fire escape…Flowers on the windowsill…You’re damn…

The deer is humble, lovely as God made her

These strange priests enter the cathedral of woodsAnd seven Marys clean their hands to woo herFoot lifted, dagger-sharp—her earsPoised to their points like a leaf’s headBut the snake strikes, in a velvet arcOf murderous speed—assassin beautifulAs mountain water at which a fawn drankStand there, forever, while poison worksWhile I stand counting the arms of your…

So it is the duty of the artist to discourage all traces of shame

To fog them in right over the plateTo kill only what is ridiculousTo establish problemTo ignore solutionsTo listen to no oneTo omit nothingTo contradict everythingTo generate the free brainTo bear no crossTo take part in no crucifixionTo tinkle a warning when mankind straysTo explode upon all partiesTo wound deeper than the soldierTo heal this poor…

These of living emanate a formidable light,

Gives increase eternally.What fortifies in separate thoughtIs not drawn by wind or by man defiled.So whispers the parable of doubleness.As it is necessary not to submitTo power which weakens the hidden forms;It is extraordinarily more essentialNot to deny welcome to these originating forcesWhen they gather within our heatTo give us habitation.The one life must be…