I have nothing but contempt for this administration
for administration itself
if things did not have to exist
mainly in particularities
obsession with improvement
exact instructions
issued on arrival

and the gross plumes
prescient continuity
evades poetry
when getaway appears impossible
to Where? Nobodaddy? Singularity?
Chant? Illusion?

This cave-in is not popular
a deduction from absent inference
systematic repression of the real
glints from ancient rituals
subtracted from reason (gape)

Splash and be done with it
destroyed voice canvasses actual fear
in neighboring opposites
called "dance"- but that isn't it
manuscript piled on top of radio
on top of document on top of prayer-wheel
a voice inverts it again
it's called "invent"
representation represents betrayal
in an anxious moment
invites defeat
remains a fool
noise substitutes for continued defiance
absent relative appears on t.v.
play it out of the fumes of defeat
pull meaning from its roots
this is different
rosy carcass signifies rifleman

Doorway symbolizes exit
voice predicts advancing military dictator
mechanical assent begins again
figure it out or don't eat

Yet this pie prophecies a shift in state
the system of definition fails
to enlighten the preening monarch
who marches rhythmically to silent lash



(notebook: untitled poem: 7/10/86)