I. The Whole World Including the Speaker
Why nag at the ideas of Hercules, Don Don?
Widen your sense. All things in the sun are sun.
II. The Whole World Excluding the Speaker
I found between moon-rising and moon-setting
The world was round. But not from my begetting.
III. Soupe Aux Perles
Health-o, when ginger and fromage bewitch
The vile antithesis of poor and rich.
IV. Soupe Sans Perles
I crossed in ’38 in the Western Head.
It depends which way you crossed, the tea-belle said.
V. Boston with a Note-book
Lean encyclopedists, inscribe an Iliad.
There’s a weltanschauung of the penny pad.
VI. Boston without a Note-book
Let us erect in the Basin a lofty fountain.
Suckled on ponds, the spirit craves a watery mountain.
VII. Artist in Tropic
Of Phoebus Apothicaire the first beatitude:
Blessed, who is his nation’s multitude.
VIII. Artist in Arctic
And of Phoebus the Tailor the second saying goes:
Blessed, whose beard is cloak against the snows.
IX. Statue against a Clear Sky
Ashen man on ashen cliff above the salt halloo,
O ashen admiral of the hale, hard blue …
X. Statue against a Cloudy Sky
Scaffolds and derricks rise from the reeds to the clouds
Meditating the will of men in formless crowds.
XI. Land of Locust
Patron and patriarch of couplets, walk
In fragrant leaves heat-heavy yet nimble in talk.
XII. Land of Pine and Marble
Civilization must be destroyed. The hairy saints
Of the North have earned this crumb by their complaints.
XIII. The Male Nude
Dark cynic, strip and bathe and bask at will.
Without cap or strap, you are the cynic still.
XIV. The Female Nude
Ballatta dozed in the cool on a straw divan
At home, a bit like the slenderest courtesan.
XV. Scéne Flétrie
The purple dress in autumn and the belfry breath
Hinted autumnal farewells of academic death.
XVI. Scéne Fleurie
A perfect fruit in perfect atmosphere.
Nature as Pinakothek. Whist! Chanticleer …