Caterpillar Boy

UP AND down
grey boughs

caterpillar

boy zigzags
up sidewalk

parkin' lot

is, already
in his mind

a butterfly

Midas's Song

The tower of
counted coin

the wheat of
my granaries

A paved road
for the cart

and the oxen
provided for

My men fitly
fed, attired

civil-minded
and mannered


•


Olive groves
in abundance

the orchards
fig and plum

Meat, fleece
of the lambs

Hecatombs of
fatted boars

A black bull
for the gods

Pyres raised
to the ether


•


Lush forests
yield timber

my shipyards
all business

Dawn to dusk
my potteries

the painters
well-trained

Black beasts
wrestle with

Heracles, in
red outlines


•


And my ships
bearing gold

to pay hands
--all skills

The guilds a
philanthropy

by every man
who advances

the pregnant
contour, hue

the craft of
his ancestor


•


And I savour
rich texture

of both clay
and tapestry

Spice of the
foreign land

Cardamom for
a full table

Exotic cloth
for the wife

Peace--in an
orderly life

•


And my slave
is well-paid

his work not
too exacting

mind or body
not punished

if compliant
with the law

In every way
I am liberal

and civility
is my temper


•


And twilight
brings larks

to my garden
and vineyard

My forsythia
fresh yellow

Lilacs bloom
by the roses

Clematis and
ivy climb up

green crotch
of the trees


•


My starlings
flit & flirt

coquettes to
my eye, sore

bent over my
many ledgers

Line by line
the dull ink

this concern
and that one

Deluge after
drought, yet


•


My daughters
in fine wool

my sons hale
and handsome

The children
of my babies

the clenched
little fists

red-faced in
ornate tears

laughing are
pure delight


•


These are my
soil, my air

root, branch
shoot, bloom

quick growth
of my summer

wool blanket
to my winter

The arteries
of my health

and the pump
of my wealth


•


These hew my
soul's shape

No ink shows
it in tables

yet an order
built up and

in every way
sustained by

the tower of
counted coin

the wheat of
my granaries


•


Float, float
up to heaven

Midas's pure
sprung psalm

Holy Olympus
on its mount

down-clouded
azure, white

but its gods
heard "gold"

and "me" and

nothing else

© 2002 Dan Goorevitch

Little Mommy

LITTLE MOMMY

"Do you have
a baby", she
asks me, "in
your belly?"

"No", I say,
"Do you?" An
answer given
as surely as

swiftly. "Is
it a girl or
a boy?" pose
I, to which:

"Her name is
Jane;--see?"
she says, as
she shows me

a wee crease
in her navel
"Can you see
Jane's bum?"

ART/FOR/ITS/OWN/END

ART
FOR
ITS
OWN
END
WON
THE
DAY
AND
JOY
NOT
WOE
WAS
ITS
AIM

19841994

I
me
we
us
Ms
bi
PhD
gay
CIA
FBI
men
Her
She
hiV
s/he
blak
CSIS
nazi
AIDS
race
junta
queer
greed
dogma
class
canon
racist
fatist
wimmin
queens
gender
agenda
smoker
victim
fascist
lesbian
bulimic
context
studies
new-age
subtext
demonize
freudian
red meat
wellness
heteroxy
anorexic
paradigm
didactic
bisexual
feminist
herstory
same-sex
safe-sex
misogyny
workshop
polemics
patronize
safer-sex
pride day
date-rape
aggressor
he or she
semiotics
subverted
she or he
empowered
genocidal
caregiver
privilege
vegetarian
fruitarian
pro-active
inner-city
pro-choice
gay rights
sex worker
victimized
monolithic
white males
homeopathic
green space
self-esteem
objectified
materialist
gender bias
discredited
progressive
paternalist
transsexual
maternalist
hermeneutic
share-power
bureaucrats
the disabled
middle class
heterosexual
human rights
sociological
transvestite
video artist
racist group
marginalized
the gun lobby
the fur trade
deconstructed
handy-capable
gay & lesbian
spousal abuse
power sharing
the genocidal
illness model
vegetarianism
fruitarianism
animal rights
the gay games
gay pride day
gay pride week
gender-neutral
breast implant
the gender gap
post-modernist
race relations
proceduralized
bio-degradable
wellness model
the privileged
women's issues
sexual assault
animal testing
multinationals
age-appropriate
Judeo-Christian
animal products
the male agenda
socio/political
substance abuse
cultural worker
fundamentalists
the power elite
status of women
corporate greed
women's studies
new-age medicine
the revisionists
the inner cities
abortion clinics
power structures
dead white males
private property
the profit motive
same-sex benefits
employment equity
sexual harassment
deconstructionist
second-hand smoke
corporate America
greedy businessmen
gender stereotypes
endangered species
the black majority
the white majority
the black minority
the white minority
holistic medicines
indoor air quality
affirmative action
spiritual identity
the new world order
human rights groups
non-western culture
conservation issues
the disenfranchised
mentally challenged
performance artists
renewable resources
the military regime
the tobacco industry
eurocentric thinking
high-risk activities
the corporate agenda
unsubstantiated fact
advocacy advertising
new-age philosophies
homeopathic medicine
has been discredited
wheel-chair athletes
animal rights groups
deeply coded message
conceptually invalid
politically incorrect
alternative sexuality
self-representational
autobiographical text
old-guard politicians
high-minded principle
refreshing scepticism
violence against women
gender differentiation
the cosmetics industry
heterosexual orthodoxy
animal experimentation
negotiating difference
iconically interesting
cultural appropriation
the difference disabled
gay & lesbian bookstore
gender-neutral language
women's study programme
the white establishment
substance abuse problem
the wilderness committee
age-appropriate behavior
reproductive technologies
institutional co-optation
the politics of inclusion
the politics of exclusion
Christian fundamentalists
water conservation issues
male spousal abuse studies
the crassest commercialism
gender-neutral terminology
human rights infringements
energy consumption & waste
green community designation
fresh fruits and vegetables
the ruling military leaders
the market-driven economies
military/industrial complex
cross-cultural fertilization
the post-colonial experience
buddies in bad times theatre
the violence of monocultures
shifting multiple identities
multiple elective identities
mutually-assured destruction
politically-correct language
environment education officer
department of women's studies
privileged institutional hand
French structuralist critique
trademark cosmetic indicators
present-day political concerns
free-standing abortion clinics
the marginalized nexus of power
reticent to negotiate difference
art-historical deconstructionist
post-modernist art & architecture
self-declared military government
the multinational corporate agenda
the multinational corporate empire
French post-Structuralist critique
CONSUMERS of MENTAL HEALTH PRODUCTS

© nineteen-ninety-four dan goorevitch