m  i  c  h  a  e  l  m  a  g  e  e
 


THE IDEA OF ORDER AT MODESTO

                                                 for K. Silem Mohammad


The sea all water, yet receives rain still,
And the chief power of wealth is to wear the spirit
Of contentment on the wisdom which is better
Than the wealth of every sun’s inspection
Of the hidden water also, below working classes
Coition, plunging head into water, swallowing thick.

Allah sends down water (rain) from the sky,
Ordered you to give them Burroughs’ “The Rare
Jewel of Christian Contentment,” page 19.
A trick consists of four qualities: Guile-
Lessness and simplicity, purity and contentment,
Sweetness of water and honey and curds.

Delving even deeper into a wealth
Of information
— jails, airlines, freeways, bridges,
Town water, railways, trams, man, a way of life
—
Language hopefully not understood by sharks
Or giant squid loosening tiles and sucking
The wealth out of the women carrying water and washing.

Well, the Ministry of Health would just love to burn
Pizza-drops after the Bishop has bolted the gates?
Coming into contact with the polluted water,
A new car, big screen TV or any other form.
Hornet, all evil great and small, each beastly
Little squid, ambition’s like a circle on the water.

The dropsy’d thirst of empire, the daughter
Of Franco’s notoriously promiscuous brother,
Ramon, recesses beyond. I vowed that when
My health returned I would not hearken to Him
In the pulpit, nor abstain from eating, drinking.
The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
An average glass of tap water has passed through.

 

From “My Angie Dickinson”

#21

Stars from two vastly different spheres
Orbmaster: creates orbs
Feathers saves the day
— she rides
from fireballs to PB&J

Down “a flight” of stairs
immobile Sperm rains down
Soft, muted spheres
— pressed into —
ideology saxophones

#25

I’m Doomed! I’m Doomed!
Oh dream maker
—
A Fateful and Fatal
Sexual encounter!

Bored femme Godzilla
An unbilled
— bit —
Done with no dialogue
—
Done with His!

I looked at Myself and Thought
“Jeez, not bad!”
A nun with a big heart
—
“Witch Hat Plaid”
—

#26


Forty books from
— the Four Corners —
My Childhood “hero” polluted the Soul
Interestingly paralleled in Rio Bravo
—
Smitten with blood, the mind is baffled
—
Dall and Loveday on the dole.
Attribution is Americana
Marriage right under the maple tree
My Mother’s a shady cattle rancher
—
A jar
— of honey — in my jeans
“Crucifies” a suffering bee
—

#49

Divorce is not Granted
— by the Pope —
Married to Henry VIII —
A trip to Bermuda is over in weeks
So the Wife can become
— serious —

A teenager “dates
”— the daughter —
Tries to “get through” eight songs
The kids on Astro Orbiter
Were Known as “affinity” groups
—

In the future a cutting-edge android
In the form of a boy-sheath
—
The full-length matching sequined skirt
The Puritan strain rides underneath

#54

Like a dour Schoolmaster
— who four times
Reflected
— the dour mood —
Prod along singing and dancing to
“Their” dour and
— “flat” —

Can you play
— a dour hooker — when
You're “having the” Heat of Time
His dour journalistic composure
Makes Peace
— with her own — homeless mother

An Italian
— with white mustache dour —
Never rang
— True for — Me —
Vacuously glossy
Like pornography
—


#83

Chalky aftertaste aroma
—
Inelegant, Spongy!
A simple Church Drenched with Red Buttons
Honeysuckles me
—

I was Feeling
— pretty Fucking Good myself
With the fragrant Aroma of Bliss
—
I
’d always had a Thing
Ernie would never watch.

Fit Subject for a Future memo
—

A five foot seven inch
Architecture of Sea Otters
Floating up — to Me — from my bra —


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MICHAEL MAGEE is the author of Morning Constitutional (Handwritten Press 2001) and MS (Spuyten Duyvil 2003). His book _Emancipating Pragmatism: Emerson, Jazz and Experimental Writing_ (U Alabama 2004) recently won the Elizabeth Agee Prize. He lives in Rhode Island with his wife and two daughters.

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