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The Collected Poems of Ted Berrigan

Page 45

by Alice Notley


  Sotere Torregian (1941– ) Poet.

  Tony Towle (1939– ) Poet.

  Tom Veitch (1941– ) Novelist, poet, comic book writer.

  Anne Waldman (1945– ) Poet, editor, anthologist, teacher, performer, New York and Boulder poetry community figure.

  Larry Walker Fiction writer, friend of Ted’s in Tulsa.

  Lewis Warsh (1944– ) Poet, novelist, memoirist, editor, publisher, teacher.

  Philip Whalen (1923–2002) Poet, novelist, Zen abbot.

  Megan Williams Upstairs neighbor of Ted’s in New York in the late 70s and early 80s. Dress designer.

  Jeff Wright (1951– ) Poet, editor, publisher.

  Credits

  The text of The Sonnets is reproduced with the permission of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. (New York: Penguin Books, 2001). Memorial Day is reproduced with the permission of its co-author, Anne Waldman. A Certain Slant of Sunlight is reproduced with the permission of Leslie Scalapino and O Books (Oakland, Calif.: O Books, 1988). All other poems are used with the permission of Alice Notley, executor of the estate of Ted Berrigan. The photograph of Ted Berrigan is reproduced with the permission of the photographer, Lorenz Gude. The cover art by George Schneeman is reproduced with the permission of the artist.

  Index of Titles and First Lines

  The index that appeared in the print version of this title was intentionally removed from the eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below

  Titles appear in roman type. First lines appear in italics.

  (Another has)

  (Ezra Pound: A Witness)

  (Keep my)

  (Peter Rabbit came in)

  (With)

  (You’ll do good if you play it like you’re)

  1. Le Marteau Sans Maitre : Pierre Boulez (Odyssey 32 16

  (2) photographs of Anne

  3 Pages

  4 Metaphysical Poems

  5 New Sonnets: A Poem

  7 Things I Do in the Hotel Chelsea

  9:16 & 2:44 & 25 Minutes to 5

  10 Things I Do Every Day

  10 Things I do Every Day

  10 years of boot

  XIII

  20th Century man strives toward the unfinished-machine exalted state

  30 (The fucking enemy shows up)

  36th Birthday Afternoon

  43 (no strange countries)

  44th Birthday Evening, at Harris’s

  80th Congress

  a band of musicians: up tight

  A Boke

  A Certain Slant of Sunlight

  A colorful river of poetry drives forward

  A City Winter

  A darksome tiger

  A Dream

  A drop of boo the wounded ham

  a faint smile appears

  A few rape men or kill coons so I bat them

  À la Recherche du Temps Perdu

  A Letter

  A Letter from Dick Gallup

  A Little American Feedback

  “A little loving can solve a lot of things”

  A lovely body gracefully is nodding

  A master square weaver, one’s favoured medium

  A Meeting at the Bridge

  a metal fragrant white

  A natural bent, no doubt

  A New Old Song

  A new old song continues. He worked into the plane

  a nose, heavy, square, & massive

  A Note from Yang-Kuan

  A person can lie around on an uncrowded beach

  A Personal Memoir of Tulsa, Oklahoma / 1955–60

  A Quiet Dream

  A Religious Experience

  A Reply to the Fragile

  A Spanish Tragedy

  A sparrow whispers in my loins

  A True Story

  A woman’s love

  (About Emily Dickinson)

  Above his head clanged

  Abraham & Sarah

  According

  Acid

  Acid

  Across the trolley tracks

  After Breakfast

  After Peire Vidal, & Myself

  After Petrarch

  After the first death there is plenty

  Ah, Bernie, to think of you alone, suffering

  “Ah Fitz but we are profound

  Air

  Air Conditioning

  All A-Glower Went My Love Riding

  All my friends in the

  “All things considered, it’s a gentle & undemanding

  Allen & Peter, heads close together, Allen

  Allen Ginsberg’s “Shining City”

  Ambiguity

  American Express

  Amityville Times

  Amsterdam

  An Autobiography in 5 Parts

  An Ex-Athlete, Not Dying

  An Observation

  An Orange Clock

  An UnSchneeman

  and I am lost in the ringing elevator

  & so I took the whole trip

  “And the nights shall be filled with music

  And then one morning to waken perfect-faced (Interstices)

  And then one morning to waken perfect-faced (Sonnet XXXI)

  Andy Butt was drunk in the Parthenon

  Angst

  Ann Arbor Elegy

  Ann Arbor Song

  Anne

  Anne Lesley Waldman says, No Fossil Fuels

  Anne reads her Troubadour poem

  “Another has

  Another New Old Song

  Anselm

  Anselm! Edmund!

  Anselm Hollo

  Anselm is sleeping; Edmund is feverish, &

  Anti-War Poem

  “Antlers have grown out the top of my shaggy head”

  Apollinaire Oeuvres Poetiques

  Apologies to Val & Tom

  “appropriately named Beauty, has just been a star

  April in the Morning, with Anne

  Around the Fire

  As Usual

  Ass-Face

  At a quarter past six he sat & said “where’s your brother? pull

  At 80 Langton Street (S.F.)

  At last I’m a real poet I’ve written a

  At Loma Linda

  Aubade

  Autobiography

  Autobiography

  Autumn

  Autumn is fun

  Autumn’s Day

  Avec la Mécanique sous les Palmes

  Babe Rainbow

  Baby sighs prepositions put the books back nights. As usual I

  Back in the Old Place

  Back to dawn by police word

  Bad Teeth

  Bad Timing

  banging around in a cigarette she isn’t “in love” (Sonnet XLI)

  banging around in a cigarette she isn’t “in love” (Sonnet LVI)

  Baltic Stanzas

  Bardolino

  Be awake mornings. See light spread across the lawn

  Bean Spasms

  bear with me

  bear with me

  Beautiful girl

  Beautiful Poem

  Beauty, I wasn’t born

  became in Alamogordo. Then the blast-

  Beer in bed, &

  Before I began life this time

  Before I was alive

  Beginning with a memory of childhood New York’s lovely weather

  bent

  bent

  Besa

  Beware of Benjamin Franklin, he is totally lacking in grace

  Biddy Basketball

  Black & White Magic

  Black brothers to get happy

  Black Power

  blank mind part

  Blindfold shores leaving sad

  Blue

  Blue Galahad

  Blue Herring

  Blue Targets

  Blue Tilt

  Bolinas

  borrow 50 from George

  Boulder

  Brigadoon

  Broth
er and sister departed

  Buddha on the Bounty

  Buddhist Text

  Buenos Aires

  “But & then at that time

  But that dream . . . oh, hell

  Butchie’s Tune

  By Now

  Bye-Bye Jack

  Caesar

  Caesar’s ghost must be above suspicion

  Can’t cut it (night)

  Canzone

  Carrying a Torch

  Category

  Cento: A Note on Philosophy

  C’est automne qui revient

  Chair

  Che Guevara’s Cigars

  Chicago April Morning: Snow

  Chicago English Afternoon

  Chicago Morning

  Childe of the House

  Chinese Nightingale

  Christmas Card (for Barry & Carla)

  Christmas Card (O little town of Bethlehem)

  Christmas in July, or

  (clarity! clarity!) a semblance of motion, omniscience

  Climbed by Grandma We Stand on Morning’s Hill

  Clown

  Coda : Song

  Coffee And

  Cold rosy dawn in New York City

  Come to Chicago

  Communism

  Compleynt to the Muse

  Conceived in Hate

  Congratulations

  Connecticut

  Contemporary Justice

  Conversation

  Corporal Pellegrini

  Corridors of Blood

  Cowboy Song

  Cranston Near the City Line

  Crash

  Craze Man Wiliiker

  Creature

  Crossroads

  Crystal

  DNA

  “Dear Chris

  Dear Management’s beautiful daughters

  Dear Marge, hello. It is 5:15 a.m. (Night Letter)

  Dear Marge, hello. It is 5:15 a.m. (Sonnet XVIII)

  Dear Margie, hello. It is 5:15 a.m. (Sonnet II)

  Dear Ron: Keats was a baiter of bears etc.

  Dear Ron: hello. Your name is now a household name

  December

  Déjà Vu

  Der Asra

  Despair farms a curse, slackness

  Dial-A-Poem

  Dice Riders

  Dick Gallup (Birthday)

  Did you see me that night

  Dinner at George & Katie Schneeman’s

  Dinosaur Love

  Discussing Max Beerbohm

  “Do you

  Do You Know Rene?

  Don Quixote & Sancho Panza

  Don’t call me “Berrigan”

  Don’t Forget Anger

  Doubts

  Down Moon River

  Down on Me

  Down on Mission

  Dreamland

  Dreams, aspirations of presence! Innocence gleaned

  Dreamy-eyed is how you get

  Dresses for Alice

  dying now, or already dead

  Each tree stands alone in stillness

  Easter Monday

  Easy Living

  “Eileen” (detail)

  El Greco

  Elysium

  Entrance

  Epithalamion

  Erasable Picabia

  Evelyn Waugh’s Prayer

  Evensong

  Every day back & forth

  Every day when the sun comes up

  Every man-jack boot-brain slack-jaw son of a chump

  Everybody is not so clever as you. You are cleverer than I

  Everybody Seemed So Laid Back in the Park

  Everything good is from the Indian

  Everywhere we went we paid the price, endurement

  Excursion & Visitation

  Ezra Pound: A Witness

  Farewell Address

  Fauna Time. See The Secret Life of Ford Madox Ford

  Feb. 11, 1982. Last night reading Permanent War

  February Air

  Fern

  fiction appears) for I and only one per-

  Fine Mothers

  Flame & Fury

  Flower Portrait

  Fluke Holland: —The Tennessee Third

  Flying United

  For a brief time Acting Chief

  For Annie Rooney

  For Bernie

  For love of Megan I danced all night

  For my sins I live in the city of New York

  For Robt. Creeley

  For Rosina

  For You

  Found Picasso

  Four Gates to the City

  Fragment

  Frances

  Francis à Bientôt

  Francis Marion nudges himself gently into the big blue sky

  Frank O’Hara

  Frank O’Hara’s Question from “Writers and Issues” by John Ashbery (An Autobiography in 5 Parts)

  Frank O’Hara’s Question from “Writers and Issues” by John Ashbery (Many Happy Returns)

  Frog sees dog. log?

  From “Anti-Memoirs”

  From A List of the Delusions of the Insane, What They Are Afraid Of

  From a Secret Journal

  from Memoirs

  From Sketches of Amsterdam

  From The Art of the Sonnet

  From the Execution Position

  From the House Journal

  Fuck Communism

  Further Definitions (Waft)

  Futile rhapsodies resound from hotly

  Gainsborough

  Galaxies

  Games

  Gay doormen face a severe shortage of cocaine

  George’s Coronation Address

  Geranium’s

  get, in the complexity of our present

  “Get a job at the railroad”

  Get Away from Me You Little Fool

  Get your ass in gear

  Giants in the sky; roses in streams that castle rocks

  Give Them Back, Who Never Were

  Go

  Go in Manhattan

  Go fly a kite he writes

  God: perhaps, “The being worshipped. To

  Going to Chicago

  Going up, slowly, I, slowly

  Good Evening, ladies, and all you hungry children

  Goodbye House, 24 Huntington, one block past Hertel

  Grace After a Meal

  Grace to be born and live as variously as possible

  Great Stories of the Chair

  gray his head goes his feet green

  Green (grass)

  Green Tide; behind, pink against blue

  Grey Morning

  Guevara had noticed me smoking, and remarked that of course I would

  Gus

  Hall of Mirrors

  Harum-scarum haze on the Pollock streets (Sonnet XIX)

  Harum-scarum haze on the Pollock streets (Sonnet XLVI)

  He

  He

  He called his Mama

  He eats of the fruits of the great Speckle

  He eats toenails

  He is guardian to the small kitten

  He made coffee

  He never listened while friends talked

  He never listened while friends talked. He worked

  He wandered and kept on wandering. Bar-Mitzvah

  He was one of the last of the Western Bandits

  He was ugly

  He was wounded & so

  Head Lice

  Head of lettuce, glass of chocolate milk

  Heart of my heart

  Hearts

  “Hello”

  Hello

  Hello, Sunshine

  Heloise

  Here

  Here comes the Man

  Here comes the man! He’s talking a lot

  Here I am again

  Here I am at 8:08 p.m. indefinable ample rhythmic frame

  Here I Live

  Heroin

  He’s literally a shambles as a person

  High School windows are always broken

  His piercing pince-nez. Some di
m frieze (5 New Sonnets: A Poem)

  His piercing pince-nez. Some dim frieze (Sonnet I)

  Hitch on here

  Hollywood

  Homage to Beaumont Bruestle

  Homage to Mayakofsky

  Homecoming

  Honey

  How strange to be gone in a minute

  How strange to be gone in a minute! A man

  How sweet the downward sweep of your prickly thighs

  How terrible a life is

  How to Get to Canada. See Three Poems: Going to Canada

  How We Live in the Jungle

  Huge collapsed Mountain Enters from Stage Right

  I am ambiguity

  I am asleep

  I am closing my window. Tears silence the wind

  I am in bed

  I am kinks

  I am lonesome after mine own kind—the

  I am the man yr father & Mum was

  I am thinking of my old houses

  I am trying very hard to be Here

  I appear in the kitchen

  I belong for what it is worth

  I belong here, I was born

  I cannot reach it

  I can’t sleep walking through walls

  I Dreamt I See Three Ladies in a Tree

  “I gather up my tics & tilts, my stutters & imaginaries

  I go in &

  I go on loving you

  I had a really sad childhood, lived mostly alone

  I had angst

  I had this dream

  “I have always been emotional beyond belief, so

  I have been here too many times before

  I have no brain

  I have these great dreams, like

  I hear walking in my legs

  I Heard Brew Moore Say, One Day

  I hope to go

  “I know what evening means, and doves, and I have seen

  “I know where I’m going

  I like First Avenue

  I like to beat people up

  I love all the girls

  I love you much

  I met her in The Stone Age

  I never said I was right, or wrong

  “I order you to operate. I was not made to suffer”

  “I Remember”

  I remember painting “I Hate Ted Berrigan” in big black letters

  I saw you first in half-darkness

  I sit on fat

  I stand at the dock in judgement

  I stand by the window

  I take him

  I tried to put the coffee back together

  I Used to Be but Now I Am

  I used to be inexorable

  I wake up back aching from soft bed Pat

  I wake up 11:30 back aching from soft bed Pat

  I was looking at the words he

  I watch the road: I am a line-

  I won’t be at this boring poetry reading

  “I wrote these songs when

  I’d been

  I’d like to show you something. Please look at it

  If by my hasty words I gave offence

  If he bites you he’s friendly

  If I didn’t feel so

  If I don’t love you I

  If someone doesn’t help me soon I

  Ikonostasis

  I’ll yell at these men who pass

 

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