Fez Instead

Fez Instead
__________________

Fez Instead
Kafkaesque
The Delicate Page
Denouement Ditty
Tough Sabu
Taprobane
Next to Nothing
_________________________

Fez Instead

“I had no intention
of sharing Yacoubi
with anybody.”
—Paul Bowles

They knew it—
Tennessee, Libby, Jane
That I was obsessed

It wasn’t just sex—
It was something else
Totally new to me

It was uncanny—
My version of “Desire
And the Black Masseur”?

“The Roman Spring—
of Mrs. Stone” except it
Was in Fez instead?
__________________________

Kafkaesque

“From a certain point—
onward there is no longer
any turning back.”
—Franz Kafka

There was this point—
It had to be reached
The point of no return

It was raining—
Let it come down
Banquo gets stabbed

Without stopping—
Adding page after page
Mektoub, it is written

Taprobane beckoned—
Sahara nihilisms
Ahmed and me alone
_________________________

The Delicate Page

“Who has been
torturing you?”
—Paul Valéry

“I didn’t expect—
you’d like the poem
very much,” I said

He’d been the cause—
Of so many of my
Aches and pains

Twisting me—
Twisting me in the night
The world, the sky

His acts, distractions—
Vibrating on every page
My gruesome words
_____________________________

Denouement Ditty

“The separateness of the
one human psyche”
—Tennessee Williams
Saturday Review of Literature

Dark and stormy nights—
Mixed with Edgar Allen Poe
And The House of Usher

The usual decadence—
Mixed with The Tomb of Ligeia
Our Lady of the Flowers

Paul Bowles’ mother—
Reading Poe to her son
Perverting his imagination

His father sticks his crib—
Out on a windowsill during
A terrible snow storm
______________________________

Tough Sabu

“An Arab boy who
is insanely jealous and
given to the practice
of black magic”
—William Burroughs

Hans Richter—
Filmed us in his movie
At Libby’s Treetops

Ahmed dances—
Plays his Pan flute
Undresses, swims

He climbs trees—
Like a chimpanzee
A Hollywood Sabu

Then Café Society—
Cartier’s, Stork Club
Blue Angel gigolo
_____________________________

Taprobane

“It’s a Poe story”
—Jane Bowles
Without Stopping

Bats came out at night—
Three-foot wingspans
With big sharp teeth

Such nightly—
Invasions plus gamut
Of Celanese crazies

Barnes determined—
To write “Spider’s House”
About Yacoubi’s life

“It is written”—
Published thanks to
Efficacy of Mektoub
____________________________

Next to Nothing

“The world seethes with
words, Forgive me.”
—Paul Bowles, Next to Nothing

I always took the easy—
Way out for some reason
Probably just laziness

The path that goes around—
The swamp along the beach
Before the tide comes in

There were many things—
That could’ve been said
But now it’s too late

Light spills down—
Thru the trees with the
Same shadows the same way

I see it, hear it—
But there’s no one to say
The words to anymore