TRILLING HER LOVELY F ABOVE HIGH C
For you alone? OH STRAUSS TURNS UP, OR WAGNER
OR INSTRUMENTALISTS THE CHINESE MASTER
OF A 4TH CENTURY ‘GON REGISTER’
MY LADS IT TAKES YR SOCKS OFF! KIND OF THROBBING
MEDIUM THAT SUSTAINS, ITSELF ATONAL,
EVERY ‘SCALE VARIANT’ SCHOENBERG: HAD I KNOWN!
Has Schoenberg ever spoken of DJ,
His former student? ONE WHO FONDLY HAS
IS HINDEMITH: ‘DJ A CLEAR & BUBBLING
MELODIC NATURE OVERSWEETENED BY JAZZ’
PH AT 7, HEAVILY CREDITED
AS ‘GERMINATIVE’ Now you’re making it
Sound like the Lab—
ENFANTS STOP SEEING DOUBLE!
IF AGATHA ROMPED UP IN OVERALLS
(2 STRAPS WHERE THE SHEARS CLIPPED) U’D REALIZE
THAT SHE IS NOBODY IF NOT HERSELF
SOME ICON, EH? WE BY THE WAY WILL BE
ALLOWED TO TAKE OUR MIRROR BREAK WHENEVER
THE 4 OF US AGREE If we say never?
AH ENFANT BUT DO U KNOW SOMETHING, D?
WE FEEL AN URGE LIKE BABY’S KICKING FOOT
THAT SAYS MARCH ON! JM: Or mine to put
These headlong revelations finally
Between the drowsy covers of a book.
SO RIGHT DEAR BOY NO MORE POSO AKOMAS
FOR ANY OF US THEN BOB WILL COMPOSE HIS
‘OTHER WORLD’ SYMPHONY WHILE I MAKE SUCH
A MOUNTAIN
ME SUCH A GARDEN
& ME? GEORGE?
SUCH A SLEEPING PILL!
& SO TILL THEN LET’S MAKE
THE MOST OF IT MY DEARS & GO OUT LAUGHING FOR GOD’S SAKE!
*
Plato Emerging
WYSTAN WITH PLATO (NATCH) MM WITH AG,
& THE WEE MINNESOTA MINNESINGER
TUNING HIS LUTE Aha, a setting for
The new life? YES DETAILS ARE SLOW IN COMING
ONLY THAT I’LL BE WHITE AGAIN (HO HUM)
Changing neither race nor hemisphere—
Odd; Chester did both. THEY’RE BEING EXTRA
CAREFUL IN MY CASE: HIGH GROUND NO RISK
OF LOSING ME IN SOME ‘EMERGING’ NATION.
CK’S BLACK AFRICA A VACCINATION
AGAINST ONE MORE LIFE SABOTAGED BY SEX
No outlets there? CONVENTIONAL TRIBAL WHOOPEE
BUT AS IN THE OLD SAW, CK GOES STRAIGHT
INTO THE JEWELRY STORE & COMES OUT CROOKED.
WYSTAN CHORTLES DOTING OVER HIM:
‘MY DEARS HE’S GONE & DONE IT!’ CHORUS: ‘NOT…?’
‘NO NO JUST YANKED HIS FATHER’S U KNOW WHAT.’
Enter the others: DID I HEAR MY NAME?
CAN’T A FELLOW SLIP OFF TO THE GENTS
WITHOUT The gents—to Plato! MM’S TERM
WHO NEVER GETS DISCUSSED BEHIND HER BACK
Never needs powder on her Grecian nose?
TOO UNFAIR
CAN’T FOOL MAMAN SHE KNOWS!
NOW: PLATO IS SHORTLY TO BEGIN A NEW
V LIFE THRILLING, EH WYSTAN?
MY DEARS WE’RE TO HAVE
SUCH A SNIFFER! Tell! A BIOCHEMIST.
V WORK A POLLUTION-EATING ANTIGAS
Wow. 27 YEARS TO GO ALAS
BUT IT WILL AS HE SAYS ‘DO THE OLD TRICK:
CLEAR THEIR HEADS’ That fits with Mirabell’s
Green fields three decades hence. I’m sorry now
We never talked to Plato. My chronic shyness
Vis-à-vis “ideas”—oh well, spilt milk.
I DARESAY HE’LL LOOK IN B4 HE GOES
PERFUMED LIKE MOTHER IN HER PARTY CLOTHES
KISSING THE SMALL INCIPIENT ASTHMATIC
GOODNIGHT How soon is he to be reborn?
HE’LL SEE US THRU & THEN OUR 3’S DRAMATIC
(You three? WITH GEORGIE BOB IN NEXT YEAR’S CROP)
DESCENT ALL POPPING FLASHBULBS TO THE GREAT
‘PRESS’ BELOW YR MOTHER CANNOT WAIT!
They leave, laughing. DJ: Tell me I’m wrong.
Wystan is Plato. Has been all along.
New moon this evening. Rim of plate.
Forebodings luminous if incomplete.
A moon we shiver to see wax
—What will our portion be in two more weeks?
MM to Gabriel: AH LORD, THAT MEAL.
But spoken gently, spoken with a smile…?
Ripen, Huntress, into matron. Light,
Come full circle through unclouded night.
*
RM & UNI OFF PRACTISING VIENNESE
HIJINKS TO WHISTLED WALTZES, Wystan is free
To speak of angels: THEY’RE OBSCURE LIKE ALL
GOOD TEACHERS BUT THEIR TEXTS REMAIN OUR OWN
ILLUMINATED PAGES. THUS THE TONE
FAR MORE SHAKESPEARIAN THAN BIBLICAL
(‘BROTHER FRANCE’) HARKS BACK TO THE DIVINE
RIGHT OF THESE NATURAL POWERS. Deaf to a growing
Attentive hush, he draws the vital line
Between NATURAL (PSYCHIC) & UNNATURAL CHAOS
WHICH SETS I SUSPECT THE MONITOR’S NEEDLES TREMBL
—Only now breaking off: ROBERT! FOR SHAME!
EAVESDROPPING? 2 3 4 5 IT WD SEEM
WE HAVE BEEN SOMEWHAT LAX 8 9
ME SOWWY
SO FASCINATING COULDN’T HELP
MY DEARS
CHAT WITH UNI WE’LL BE What? Wait—
SIRS?
ME TO BLAME? I HAD NO BRIEFING
I TOOK FOR GRANTED MY NAME-GIVER
MIGHT O MASTER!
Enter Mirabell:
ALWAYS SUCH A TREAT TO SEE MY GRADUATES THAT SILLY
ANIMAL LET IN ONE NOT ALLOWD, CAUSING DISPLEASURE
AMONG THE 00. THE CULPRIT WILL THEY’RE BACK FALSE ALARM
(Sweeping out grandly.)
SIRS Were you punished, Uni?
THEY FORBADE IT THEY ARE MY FRIENDS!
Anybody who mistreated you
Would very quickly lose our friendship, too.
O TO RUN WITH YOU BOTH! YOU KNOW
THAT IS FOREVER! WELL FOUR ARE NOW
ALLOWED IN AU REVOIR FROM UNICE
Is everything all right? POOR BOB STILL NUMB:
HIS 1ST BRUSH WITH 00 BUT A PASS WAS HANDED
CLAWED TO HIM RATHER Hadn’t clearance come
From Her? BAT POLITICS DOES THE RIGHT WING
KNOW WHAT THE SINISTER IS HARBORING?
THE PROBLEM NOW IS CHIEFLY WHERE HE’LL SIT
(DURING THE LESSONS) OUT OF RADIATION…
THE REST OF US OF COURSE IMMUNE TO IT
DJ: Are we? DEAR BOY TRY TO REMEMBER
THIS IS ALL IN A MANNER OF SPEAKING AH MM & GEORGE
(INSEPARABLE NOW THESE 2)
JM:
George, a letter came—Maman, forgive me—
So full of love and grief and pride in you.
I held it to the mirror, did you see?
You called me “brother” in New York last May.
I didn’t understand; I do today.
JIMMY I READ IT THRU TEARS. I WISH BUT SADLY
LIFE ASKED TOO MUCH OF ME, TOO MUCH OF HER,
WE COULD NOT
C’ETAIT IN SHORT LE GRAND AMOUR
BUT ISN’T OUR GEORGAKI MEANT FOR LOVE?
I BET HE WOWED ’EM!
GOOD LORD WHAT’S A POOR
SCIENTIST DOING IN THIS ATMOSPHERE?
THESE LOW TONALITIES!
SO MY DEARS WE’LL COAT
ROBERT IN LEAD & KEEP HIM WITH US
NO MORE
GARGOYLES PLEASE! A COUNTRY TAD WILL WAKE UP
SCREAMING But you and Uni got off—
GOOD CREATURE
PEERING ROUND A LEG AT THE 00,
OUR POET ENFANTS TURNED QUITE PATRICIAN: ‘SEE HERE,
ENOUGH OF THIS. WE OUTRANK YOU AND U KNOW IT!’
AU REV OFF GOES MAMAN TO TRIM THE HEDGEROWS
DJ: Come clean, Maria—you’ve a date
With George. O WHY, WHY DOES ONE WASTE ONESELF
ON THESE LEWD TYPES, GEORGAKI?
THEY MEAN WELL
BUT LET’S DO TAKE A STROLL JIMMY DON’T TELL!
UNI SADDLE UP WE’LL GO HEDGEHOPPING
—So here we are back with Wystan. Does one say
We’ve guessed he’s Plato, or just wait and see?
JM: Well! here’s our opportunity
To talk behind Maria’s back. AH SHE
(His tone, grave, musing, catching us off guard)
SHE IS ONE OF THE WONDERS HER 3 SPEECHES
HAD ME ABSOLUTELY TEARY SHE ALONE
HAVING ‘CREATED’ NOTHING IN HER LIFE
CAME HERE I FEEL ON THE HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION.
WITHOUT THE RAYS SHE WD HAVE RISEN UP,
SHE HAS THE (M) SPECIFIC GRAVITY
OF A CULT FIGURE PUREST GUESSWORK BUT
NO I’LL PUZZLE IT OUT NOW OFF & AWAY
TO MEET AGAIN (GUFFAW) ANOTHER DAY!
*
The Last Word on Number
WHOOF LADS Yes, Robert? OUT OF MY SPACE SUIT
LIKE FOOTBALL ME THE PERENNIAL SUBSTITUTE:
‘TOUGH LUCK BOB, FELLA, TOO LIGHT FOR THE TEAM’
DJ: Why a space suit? HEADS UP, FELLA!
WANT FORMULA FOR ANTIRADIATION?
If you can give it. CAN I NOT! AHEM:
MO / RA : 279 / SOD
(SODIUM COMPOUND, MO MAGNESIUM OXIDE)
Not MgO? DEAR J, THE TEENIEST GAMMA
IN SUCH A FORMULA WD BLOW OUR LIDS OFF.
ALL THIS OF COURSE AVAILABLE ONLY WAY
DOWN DEEP WE’VE HAD (AS GK PUTS IT) ONE
HELL OF A TIME That number—279—
It sounds familiar. An atomic weight?
No, they don’t go that high—not yet. A KEY
NUMBER OF YRS I THOUGHT WASN’T EPHRAIM FROM
THAT BANK? Oh God, yes. Mirabell (9.3)
Said Ephraim was a formula—why do you
Dig that old nonsense up? BECAUSE IT’S TRUE.
THE NUMBER IS A FORCE WHICH GABRIEL
ADDS LIKE ALBUMEN TO EGG TEMPERA
TO THE SOUL’S COLOR MIX As a new golem
Adds its gray figure to the endless column?
IN THE BUREAUCRACY WHERE E & BILLIONS
ARE, THE LORDS & MESSENGERS REQUIRE
THESE SYMBOLS MUCH AS CLAIMED BY MUSCLE BOY
THEY ARE INITIALS OF GREAT FORMULAS.
SO E’S (M) PERSONALITY READS OUT:
2: CATEGORY OF INTELLIGENCE
7: THE XTIAN EPOCH (7TH STAGE
BEYOND SAY THAT 1ST PAINTING RAPHAEL SAW)
9: LIMIT OF HIS Robert, what strides you’re making;
But must we go on with Number? It’s all too—
Here Wystan joins us with an overview:
MY DEARS WHEN MICHAEL NAMED THE HIGHEST HEAVEN
NOT NTH BUT ZEROETH HE MEANT A SPHERE
(SHORTLY TO RECEIVE THE 4 OF US)
SO INTENSELY OF THE MIND THAT NUMBER
IS TO IT AS THE BLEATING WOOLLY FLOCK
THE SHEPHERD COUNTS TO RISEN HESPERUS.
THE MOMENT IS LONG PAST WHEN YOU JM
MIGHT HAVE BEEN DEVOURED BY THE CHIMERA
LIKE POOR LONGSUFFERING YEATS. MUCH THAT U KNOW
WAS DICTATED TO HIM BY THE 00
But does Yeats suffer now? ANSWER DJ
YOU ARE THE HAND
DJ, uneasily:
Well, there’s this bump on my palm. It doesn’t hurt…
What else? Often before I know the message
I feel its beauty, its importance. Tears
Come to my eyes. Is that Yeats being moved?
Often it’s tiring or obscure. I fumble
Along, JM finds answers, I feel dumb.
Is that Yeats too, still making the wrong sense?
Why can’t he ever speak? WHEN THE DICTATION
ENDS I THINK HE MAY & LEAVE YR HAND
MY DEAR MUCH AS HE FOUND IT Good enough.
Meanwhile, he’s visible? FAINTLY IN THE DARK
A WORDLESS PRESENCE LIKE A COURTROOM CLERK
How dressed? LET’S SAY A STARCHED WHITE WRITING CUFF
HAVE THEY BEEN TOLD?
YES & ARE NOT IMPRESSED
THEY’VE PASSED THE NUMBER TEST
BRAVO ENFANTS
YET 279 REMAINS A STRONG FORCE BOTH
PROTECTIVE & CONDUCTIVE AND 741
HAS PLAYED A PART, N’EST CE PAS? HERE IN VOL III
Who else spread wings above you when God B
Sang in Space? OUR ST BERNARD JM: Who—
Isn’t it St Bernard—helps Dante see
Our Lady? AH THE PATTERN BLEEDING THROUGH
A hush of wonder Robert punctuates:
AU RESERVOIR PSST CUT YR QUILL, MR YEATS!
*
SIRS? Hello, Uni. MAY I RUN A MESSAGE?
To Whom? A MR NABOKOV LEFT HIS NAME
Please, not today. DJ: Don’t we want Ephraim?
MES CHERS! We’ve got your number, 279.
TRUE BUT DIGITS…GIVE YR SLAVE THE FIDGETS
What’s new, old friend? NOT MUCH THE COURT HAS MOVED
TO SUMMER HEIGHTS & LUCA FALLEN FOR
THE NEW ARRIVAL Which one? L: MAMMA MIA!
SO STRONG, SO BLOND THE RUSSIAN GIANT! IS HE A
WRITER TOO? VN: WHAT? NOT A GIRL?
AM I MISSING SOMETHING? Ah, your giddy whirl…
AND YRS? THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN YR ROOM?
DJ: Christo’s his name. SAUVAGE ET BEAU
UNLIKE HIS GAUNT SAD SEXLESS NAMESAKE Oh?
You’ve seen Christ, Ephraim? O WELL WHO HAS NOT
REPORTED HIM? HIS STORY PERMEATES
THE TALK HERE LIKE AN ARGOT: ‘LOAVES & FISHES’
FOR THE ALAS IMAGINED MEALS WE ORDER,
‘BAPTISM’ FOR THE COURSE B4 REBIRTH
Compost of language—action gone to seed,
Buried in idiom. AND ‘ON THE 3RD DAY’
PUTTING FORTH MES CHERS A VERDANT DEED?
TIME ALREADY? I LOVE U HERE’S YR STEED
—Who whisks us back to the schoolroom.
REALLY ENFANTS
AT THIS LATE DATE STILL ASKING EPHRAIM ?S
ONLY THE ANGELS KNOW THE ANSWERS TO?
AT LEAST HIS GRAPEVINE THRIVES: WE GET JC
BUDDHA ET AL IN A FORTHCOMING LESSON
ON ‘DESTROYED ENERGIES’ ALL THE RELIGIONS
WE NOW THINK WERE MICH’S V WORK. HIS REALM, IDEAS
And Gabriel’s, thought. Does thought destroy ideas?
WHAT ELSE? Well, our faith came to be in Feeling.
Feelings for one another, love, trust, need,
Daily harrowing the mini-hells
They breed— DON’T TALK TO YR MAMAN OF FEELINGS
TOO FEW WERE STARS TOO MANY WERE BLACK HOLES
DJ: You made a black hole once, Maria,
At Sounion. Looked
me straight in the old eye
And asked Why were we born? GOOD QUESTION WHY?
What did I say? Something…I can’t recall.
ENFANT U FELL TO SNORING IN MID PHRASE
TOO MUCH VINO DURING LUNCH THOSE DAYS
JM: Why born? To feed the earthward flow
Of Paradise? That final waterfall
Ephraim first mentioned in— I KNOW, I KNOW
& ODDLY GK & RM (PROUD PAWS)
THINK IT A LOVELY PLAN WHILE WYSTAN’S EYES
WEARILY MEET MINE (CHILDLESS OLD NUMBERS)
ACROSS THE NURSERY BEDS. IT’S THE MORTAL SLOWNESS
Better than Gabriel’s haste! HE IS THE SPUR
THE FIREBRAND RINGED BY WOLVES But Nature? Her
Pace is loving, she protects her own.
NOT WHEN SHE’S CLEANING HOUSE: ‘SEE MY FLOORS SHINE,
SEE HOW THEY SPARKLE, ALL MY CHANDELIERS!
1000S OF FINGERS WORKED QUITE TO THE BONE!’
ROBERT STOP TICKLING UNI & COME IN
A Metamorphosis Misfires
VELVET NOSTRILS LIQUID EYES TOO BAD
NO WINGS What a thought—Uni as Pegasus?
HE’S FAR TOO SHY TO ENTER BUT WHY NOT
IF WE PUT OUR MINDS TO IT?
Why not! Eyes shut,
Think Wings for Uni. The cup wobbles “upward”
From 1 to 0—
UNICE! COME DOWN FROM THERE!
Robert, it’s working? Maria (firmly): NO.
I LEAVE U TO YR SHAME. THAT’S MICHAEL’S SHOW.
ONE CAN BUT TRY. NOW ABOUT LVB?
Beethoven? We’re all ears. AND SO IS HE:
‘MOZART? A GIFT OF GOD’S NO DOUBT, BUT MARKED
UNRETURNABLE’ ‘FIDELIO? YES
I PLUNGED SMIRKING ONSTAGE BUT, DEAR NEW FRIEND,
OPERA AWAITS ITS GENIUS’ & SUCH A LOOK!
‘ME, MAESTRO?’ ‘WARUM NICHT?’ DA DA DA DOOM
Do you hear sounds? MORE: I AM FLOODED WITH
LVB’S SENSE OF AN UNWRITTEN SCORE
WHICH THEN GOES ‘ONTO TAPE’ (READ: DNA).
PAST THE 5 FINGER STUFF MY LADS I SAIL
TO MASTER LESSONS ON THE GRANDEST SCALE!
He’s off.
The cup bolts forward: SIRS?
AN ENEMY? THE HAIRS ON MY BACK BRISTLED!
PEG O MY HEART, MR ROBERT HUMMED?
ARE YOU CHANGING MY NAME AM I NOT YR UNICE?
The Changing Light at Sandover Page 43