by Gerd Stern

collage poems and  –scroll down for poem poems

 

POEMS POEMS

___________

Dis Charge

Who? You I married to?
Last night she say she won
Me lost when off me gun
go blow widout a soun’
Me likkle run o’luck
seems like spun out
Me thoughts a fishin’ day to find
a cotchin’ day instead come round
She dis me bod’n rod
Me dis de back she turn
Wot did is done
Us two is no way one
but me and she we know
each others flesh and breath

September 1992

___________

DIS  POEMS

Aha

the meaning of life
discussed by poets
among professed occupations
on paper, magnetic tape, cathode ray tubes
is disputable  -however
“life can be beautiful”
nevertheless or more

Dis Is It

new dis is dis plus
verb expressing action,
existence, occurence
noun naming, denoting
person, place, thing
verbs’ subject or object
disparate parts of dis speech

Dis an’ Dat

as in agreement
believe, combobulate
disness bizness
plus grace, integrate, joint
sect and stress without the s’s
turb, regard, qualify, pute
etcetera and so forth too  -all before
current usage  -just short of insult
dis respect full

Dis Play

why does discipline
remind disciples
of difference between
distraught and distressed
dis similar distances
dis appeared disorders
dis covering disassociation
disproportionate dis solution

2.     DIS POEMS

Another Idea of Order

disorder  dis play  dis way
dis this diziness
headway make hey
while away say
it again dis play
disorder

___________

HELP POEMS

Help

is on the
lay me down
and do it again
tripping through the
reclosable chips
stonehenged
mutability sensors
asking what time
is it real

So Long

it’s so good
to yes you
agree to submit
won’t you come
waltzing with who
done it again
won more time

That’s

not the only thing
I don’t know about
love and marriage
connecting “and” with
for instance legalization
sex, smoke, meaning
poke and toke
we rote

I Ask

for up
instead
of down
during off hours
trains stop here
not there nor then
when’s on

___________

Into The Mind Fire

And Vice Versa

listening is not hearing
being not becoming
seeing’s not believing
reality not illusion
inside’s not outside
we and me not you
why not how
when not where
then not now

Aventura

what is one to do
misunderstanding protocols
of unexpected early arrivals
anticipatory ritual confusion
complexifying obvious
circumstantial perplexities
even though I’m already here
ready to settle down
and eventually up
out of this mutual predicament
resolving whatever stresslessly
by virtue of patience
and once, two, three
fourtitude

Genau

noch einmal
one more time
einmal ist keinmal
but noch ein mal
is again as in
do it again
mehr licht
a question of
not enough
or more

Meine Ahnung in Wien

alles ist möglich
dein ist mein ganzes Herz
genau Liebchen
und noch viel mehr
es donnert
die Götter spielen
einmal ist keinmal
zum Schiessen
das Meer ist blau
und ich bin hier

Cogito Ergo What?

only made of clay
rhyming with here to stay
as if contradiction were
the subject of versification
or like the ify question
of international customs
are you travelling
for business or pleasure
both being an unacceptable
answer also true
of yes and no

Echad Verdad

etwas hoch
Zeit und noch viel mehr
drei mal nicht blau
dunkel wie diese nacht
nachdem das licht aus gegangen
aber alles in wahrheit
genossen

Treasure

where the high words are
on the way from high to here
thereness awareness
this less nor more
familial distraction
worth than useless
minus plus valued
whatever equals
real time ticks without tock
sock it to who on first
ness takes you moebusing
inside outness looping loop
in the heart of the lotus
lie jewels, coin, pot gold
endlessly diffracting rainbowed
wills begot before goneness
go for it

Symposium

think, thank, tank
denk einmal Denkmal
einfach simple
posium te deum
Symposium
zusammen bringen
kommen sie, come on
commune wie nennt man
Gemeinschaft
as in commune- ication
we, uns, instead of isolation
Verbindung collaboration
think, thank, tank, bank
note, key, schlüssel
keynote hören sie
diese Adresse
zum Eingang entrance
trans atlanntique
trans meer
mehr licht
enlighten
enlightened
enlightenment

Mortality/Morality

always seems to be just
one more thing, to fill up
take out, ingest
excrete, compare
adjust, relate
enjoy, exaggerate
pay, fulfill, diminish
always just one thing more
from start to finish

Just Now

wasn’t here
wasn’t there
wasn’t aware
but heard the sound
of one shoe dropping
somewhere else
heard listening
waiting to raise
levels of discourse
and gain

So be it

I wish
You where she
And I wish
I was me
We wish
Each other
to be us

Berlin, New York 2007

___________

Statements

AND AGAIN

doin’ a lot of irony
not ironing; irony
ironay, ironew
runnin’ de classical
row from A to O
beautiful for
spacious skies
and gain

CHANCE

an operation
random thrown dies
open to subjective selection
performing riff roles
after midnight rites
hung down and dried out
of bounds on margin
limits set to settings
ready for final cut

Madave, 5/30/09

CONTENTS

Are You With Me
what’s up dot
don’t come back
for dirty looks
back where you
come from where
indigone’s going

Round
rev
elations
revved up lations
at ions ation
participled ons
as what hop who
cats’n chicks
hopin’ for de best

Riddem
and the beat goes
off and on ones or zeros
plus whatever silences
allowed among untempered
interval riffs held over
while waiting’s the game

Did Do
you just said
before it was possible
what’s to think about
lost phrase recovery
feathered to erection
fnipplebrush to boobsplay
thinking of euphemism
as plain talk isn’t

Or Is It
it’s your problem
whether you know it or not
forgotten not begotten
anenomes, buttercups & poppies
three sisters prince didn’t marry
neither one or two but
three is not forever

Which
when you I mean me
are someplace else
like in a book reading
protect yourself
its later than you think
are there more kinds
of interruptus
or was it distraction

Repeat
we’re here not now
now is here, here  now
being after becoming
not before, nor before
what’s up comes down
till what’s up again

And Again
doin’ a lot of irony
not ironing; irony
ironay, ironew
runnin’ de classical
row from A to O
beautiful for
spacious skies
and gain

___________

COULD BE GONE

still here with it
beating, breathing, bleeding
line hooked intravenous
no sinker ready as freddy
for say my next step
along ways more easy
taken and left behind
dropping whatever juggles
of opportunity I never
turned down until I took
this ow out of now

Benedictine Hospital, Kingston, New York, January 2009

___________

Venetian Cantos

A

nightly shorty
not so quickie
word for sex
on the run
of will not mill
nor the river
but stream
come as you like
it shake spear
spoil childe
progeny of prodigy
spot, dot, period
punkt

AFTER

all or afterwards
nor sooner but later
than earlier was
in real time being
on the clock but of
which here zone now
perhaps where there
and when then

Cool

the rule
not “a” but “the”
only one of
a kind
you nique
as only

COUPLE

more than one
less than some
with e-d joined
a couple of dozen
similarities if you
care to compare
likenesses

Gloss

ca’ for casa
d’oro , of gold
polishing covers
blemishes, oxidation
less-g of gloss
liability is loss
canal grande cross
a demi euro targhetto
passed paradiso perduto
misercordia to ghetto
nuova stones break
like bones

LATER

was said
as if it were
some certain then
later rather than
earlier or somewhat
between like on time
if there ever was
such a thing
as scheduled

LIKE

who knows where
seems like every
but was some
we both knew
them was when
ever

Way

out in left field
right as rain
and out instead
of in is also out
of left field like
belly buttons
also in or out

Wrote

without the r rote
so what ever
that’s all she
wrote without e
rot add ten
qualify

YOU

know more about
what ever it is
like telling me
about too explicit
flying or dropping in
to whatever opening

August 2010

___________

DIMINISHED

nano is littler than nino
like mini or tiny
humongous  bigger than jumbo
or giant and colosal
if the medium is the message
between smaller and larger
or even higher and lower
than average

March 2008

___________

PUSHING

to get it out
as if it would respond
through efforts mighty painful
throned crampy lacking success
deciding to try one more remedy
of possibility that is the key
to  desire of necessity

March 2009

___________

REPEAT

we’re here not now
now is here, here  now
being after becoming
not before, nor before
what’s up comes down
till what’s up again

___________

STATEMENTS, 2nd version

And Again

doin’ a lot of irony
not ironing; irony
ironay, ironew
runnin’ de classical
row from A to O
beautiful for
spacious skies
and gain

Are You With Me

what’s up dot
don’t come back
for dirty looks
back where you
come from where
indigone’s going

Could Be Gone

still here with it
beating, breathing, bleeding
line hooked intravenous
no sinker ready as freddy
for say my next step
along ways more easy
taken and left behind
dropping whatever juggles
of opportunity I never
turned down until I took
my ow out of now

Did Do

you just said
before it was possible
what’s to think about
lost phrase recovery
feathered to erection
nipplebrush to boobsplay
thinking of euphemism
as plain talk isn’t

Diminished

nano is littler than nino
like mini or tiny
humongous  bigger than jumbo
or giant and colossal
if the medium is the message
between smaller and larger
or even higher and lower
than average

Or Is It

it’s your problem
whether you know it or not
forgotten not begotten
anenomes, buttercups & poppies
three sisters prince didn’t marry
neither one or two but
three is not forever

P.E.T

after barium
isotopes, contrast
my cells may be negative
but the emissions were positive
tomographically speaking
I got sliced

Pushing

to get it out
as if it would respond
through efforts mighty painful
throned crampy lacking success
deciding to try one more remedy
of possibility that is the key
to  desire of necessity

Repeat

we’re here not now
now is here, here  now
being after becoming
not before, nor before
what’s up comes down
till what’s up again

Riddem

and the beat goes
off and on ones or zeros
plus whatever silences
allowed among untempered
interval riffs held over

Trouble

processing progress
somebody else’s most
important product
as if getting ahead
opposite of being left
behind expectation
without any box
to think outside of

Twofer

simultaneous submission
what if both accept
and only one can
have permission from you
is that a double bind
two for the price of one
at least contretemps
mostly circumstantial
for sure coincidental
nor synchronous

Unity

whole in one
entirely inclusive
entitled elitists
prejudicing audiences
hearless listeners
could be hereless
anywhere

Whenthen

mixed meta fours
threes, twos, ones
were and are all ones
self overstood use
goes  with under
pants for example or
plain tap water please
another  then icon stood
time waves  both ways
remain future or past

Which

when you I mean me
are someplace else
like in a book reading
protect yourself
its later than you think
are there more kinds
of interruptus
or was it distraction

Sometimes

we don’t know
where we are
other times we
be somewhere else
where there was
is here

___________

TROUBLE

processing progress
somebody else’s most
important product
as if getting ahead
opposite of being left
behind expectation
without any box
to think outside of

June 2009

___________

TWOFER

simultaneous submission
what if both accept
and only one can
have permission from you
is that a double bind
two for the price of one
at least contretemps
mostly circumstantial
for sure coincidental
not synchronous

___________

UNITY

whole in one
entirely inclusive
entitled elitists
prejudicing audiences
hearless listeners
scould be hereless
anywhere

March 2009

___________

Did

you need it
ur do you need
anything else
beside what you’ve
got

___________

LISTS

my lists have lists
and my list of lists
some from so long ago
can’t even remember whens
then problems deciphering
my own handwriting
however without my lists
would I even know
what hadn’t been done

___________

WHENTHEN

mixed meta fours
threes, twos, ones
were and are all ones
self overstood use
goes  with under
pants for example or
plain tap water please
another  then icon stood
time waves  both ways
remain future past

Madave, 5/30/09

___________

New Statements

AFFIRMATION

a little bigger’s
not always better
than the little
that’s a lot

DO WHO

I don’t think so
I don’t think you
don’t think so
though who are
the I and you who
don’t think so
what

FOR JAZZ

it’s so bad
that it’s so good
enough

OVER & ON

living together
as symbiotics and tocktics
pollute, age, entertain
over the edge of the fence
you’re still sitting on
rather than orienting
left or right, also up
and down falling bump
if not virtual crash
symbols instead of cymbals
for comparison, something
that stands for -an object
neither repressed nor subjected
to like high-wire balancing
acts

EMAIL

‘s a flood
can drown you
not only in spam
but offers and info
messages from any who
beguiling, beseeching
requiring reply
from someone else
than I

___________