Matt Miller 2005

Disintegrated Study of Maritime and Priestly Wisdom
 

the priest shall examine the oyster
and if the oyster be enshelled and white
and the skin be rough and scaley
and hair grow from the wound
then it is the leprosy
and the oyster shall be declared unclean
and shall be thrown into the depths of the sea
with a millstone around its neck

and god is love
and jesus is forgiveness
and the father protects and cares

and the midgets shall not approach
the temple of adonai
for they are unclean
and beloved

and the yellow grass of the field
shall be cast into the furnace
and the oysters clinging to my legs
and the leafy tendrils of the green man
grasping at my throat
as if to save me
shall be burned forever and ever
and their shells shall close
and he shall withdraw and encurl
his hands of florae
never again to be extended
to the knight of civilization

and the priest shall eat the oyster
and god loves the green man

Amy Poland Reverse Disintegration With Melted Clock and Rhinoceros Horn
 

in the grass
in the grass
oysters climbing my leg
their milk running into the tall grass
i slept i tried to sleep
she has poisoned me with scatological melons
she has swallowed me with her cavernous mouth
a cool pulsating planet
with blue hexagon wax cells
but in the center is magma
and they are decagons
i transform myself into a piece of dust
then she cannot see me
but she still senses me
so i transform myself
into a vibrating string of argon
it is a noble gas very noble still common
and the vibrating string is the mind of God
but i know amy poland
she will return to the rhinoceros horn
the fundamental shape of all matter
the horn of God
the mind of God
the cavernous mouth of God

Observations From A Riverside Promenade
 
These men, these men of the sea and of the docks,
they hoist and shove effortlessly.
Their crates and loads seem like cotton candy to them, fluffy and airy.
But they lack the middle-class daintiness of cotton candy.
Their brown, creased arms, their tattoos, even their muscles voice labor.
Arms crane and lift,
hydraulic tendons shift and creak,
and their eyes watch, detached,
in grim acceptance
of their place on the wheel.

I Know Amy Poland
 
I know Amy Poland,
In my loin's eye;
We walk and speak of dandelions,
She places lions in my hands,
And I point out to her,
The fundamental form,
Of the rhinoceros' horn.

I show her my secret,
The secret of the undeniable giraffe nature,
Of melons and breasts and nuns' habits;
She throws like a girl.

I know Amy Poland,
In my heart's eye;
It is the eye of a unicorn and a cyclops,
Combined;
The unicorn's horn,
Is the fundamental unit of matter.
She said it doesn't matter.

I know Amy Poland well;
She brushes my soul,
With her fluttering eyelashes;
She tickles my arms,
With the leafy tendrils of her fingertips;
She kisses my nape,
With her furtive glances.

I know Amy Poland,
But not very well;
She walked in my dreams,
But then her form,
Turned into a monstrous mouth,
And nagged me all night long.

Last night I slept on the soft carpeting,
The soft, grassy carpeting of a garden,
Laden with bowers and rustled leaves;
I lay next to Amy Poland,
And spoke of my love for her;
I caressed her sunshine hair,
With my pincers and feelers;
And she asked me to speak to her,
Of my love.
So I told her all about paranoia,
And I explained how the straight, slatted,
Back of a chair, is not a chair at all,
But really the filters of a baleen whale.

I knew Amy Poland,
But it was only in my mind's eye.
She opened her eyes,
And she saw me staring,
And then she disintegrated,
Into millions of small, grey,
Rhinoceros horns.

An Evening With A Sexual Giraffe's Arms
 

Had arms the length of a giraffe's neck.
Yeah, I took myself to dinner and a movie.
Egyptian hieroglyphs,
Her breasts and her nipples spoke to me.
Had arms the length of a giraffe's neck.
The sexiest girl I have ever seen,
And caught her in the arms of a large rhubarb.
Things were actually going well,
Had arms the length of a giraffe's neck.
"Fie, fie!" they told me.
Yeah, I went over to her apartment,
Had arms the length of a giraffe's neck.
And slapped myself.
Things were actually going well,
It turns out she was cheating on me;
"Fie, fie!" they told me.
Things were actually going well,
The sexiest girl I have ever seen,
Logograms, phonograms, ideograms, an alphabet, and determinatives.
Yeah, I took myself to dinner and a movie.