If you like Pynchon...

[Daniel Callahan]

I've been very impressed with the calibre of
recommendations on this list.  I hope this addition
does justice.
-------

"Alpha Images"
Karl Elder

A
In the beginning
God climbed Louis Zukofsky's
pocket step ladder.

B
We see from above
she faces east, her bosom
of the matriarch.

C
No great mystery,
he that rears on one hind leg.
Pegasus' hoof print.

D
Alfred Hitchcock as
pregnant with the devil as
with a certain air.


E
Where is the handle
and what hand stuck this pitchfork
into a snowbank?

F
Stand it on the moon
for a nation of ants, who
know not where they live.

G
Balancing a tray
with one hand, the other hand
poised to pluck the veil.

H
The minimalist's
gate to hell and heaven, these
corridors of light.

I
Blind to what's ahead, 
behind, the ego takes this
pillar for a name.

J
Take pity on this
tattered parasol--too chic
for junk or joy stick.

K
What looks like a squawk
is to the ear a moth or
butterfly, clinging.

L
Lest we should deny
the ethereal we have
the hypothenuse.

M
Dragging its belly,
a mechanical spider,
its nose to the ground.

N
A scene from Up North
on a postcard, a timber
frozen as it's felled.

O
The rim of the moon.
Peephole into an igloo.
Shadow of zero.

P
How you choose to hold
it determines the weapon.
You may need tweezers.

Q
Might this be the light
at the end of the tunnel,
the visible path?

R
Head, shoulders, and chest--
who's the cameo inside
this dressmaker's bust?

S
Suppose our hero
tore the spent fuse from the stick.
Say the sound of it.

T
Though you can't see what
road you're on, the sign ahead
reads like calvary.

U
More mind than matter
is symmetry's mirror. You
should be that lucky.

V
V is for virgin.
Whether spread or locker, her legs
are the point of view.

W
Symbol of tungsten
and the filament itself,
its light is the white.

X
North--as if a place
as much as idea--four
needles pointing there.

Y
This flower has bloomed,
become so huge as to dwarf
both stem and petals.

Z
Swordplay with air--zip
zip zip--stitches which seem a
bout to disappear.

Swiped from the Beloit Poetry Journal
http://www.bpj.org/elder.html

Soon to be published in Best American Poetry 2000

Daniel.


=====
"Be Kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle."
- Philo of Alexandria

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