The Collected Poems of Ted Berrigan (40 page)

If I could live it over, I wouldn’t

but I wouldn’t mind watching the movie

a big talkie

a big ghost

Get it while you can

the secret is this:

Absolutely Without Regret

don’t mess

back off

steer clear

but

I doan wanna hear anymore about

that

I doan wanna hear any more about that

I doan wanna hear any more about that

I doan wanna hear any more about that

I doan wanna hear any more about that

I doan wanna hear any more about that

I doan wanna hear any more about you I doan wanna hear any more

about you

I doan wanna hear any more about you

I doan wanna hear any more about you

I doan wanna hear any more about you

I doan wanna hear any more about them

I doan wanna hear any more about him

I don’t wanna hear any more about President Nixon

(repeat)

There goes another geese on his way

to death

blam blam

b

u

c

k

s

h

o

t

I tried my best to do my father’s will

You don’t want me baby got to have me any-how.

I tried my best to do my father’s will

You don’t want me baby got to have me any-how.

Oh Lord,

have mercy

Oh Lord,

have mercy

Oh Lord,

have mercy

Have mercy,

Lord.

If it don’t come across

FUCK IT

& if your heart ain’t in it,

ditto.

I met myself

in a dream

Everything was just all right

Here comes two of you

Which one will be true?

I’m beginning

to see the light

How does it feel?

It feels,

Out of sight!

“The trumpets are coming from another station

and you do your best to tune them out”

says Mike

the wisest-assed guy I know.

“If my manner of song disturbs the dead the living

and the near dead it is because

near the dead end you can’t dance”

—Andrei Codrescu

John Garfield William Saroyan Clarisse Rivers Harris Schiff

Ray Bremser Lewis MacAdams Tom Clark Bernadette

“Everybody’s a hero.

Everybody makes you cry.”

It makes you grin to say that

But you didn’t say it

You dreamed it

in the after-life

I am not that man.

This February I dream when it’s my turn to go to the moon (doom)

a little piece of string will be hanging outside

my window as I rise, arise

but I am not that woman

I am the man who couldn’t kiss his mother

goodbye.

But I could leave.

& so I left.

& now, on visits, we kiss

Hello, Goodbye.

& I have no other thoughts about it, Memorial Day.

O you who are dead, we rant at the sky

no action

but pain in the heart

& a head that don’t understand

the meaning of “heart” or “have heart”

or

“take heart”

She is walking away with herself

away from despair

she’s that lucky girl!

graceful, &

complicated    head

(heart)

Who’s keeping me alive

& what

I praise the lord for every day you & you & you & you & you

& you & you & you

Brothers & Sisters

You are with me on Sweet Remembrance Day.

& Now the book is closed

The windows are closed                                The door is closed

The house is closed

The bars are closed

The gas station is closed

The streets are closed

The store is closed

The car is closed

The rain is closed

Red is closed

& yellow is closed

& green is closed

The bedroom is closed

The desk is closed

The chair is closed

The geraniums are closed

The triangle is closed

The orange is closed

The shine is closed                  The sheen is closed

The light is closed

The cigar is closed

The dime is closed

The pepsi is closed