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Mudlark Poster No. 25 (2000 and 2001)
Alexandra Yurkovsky
Serving Up Cage by the Pound (2000) and Conclusion (2001)
Alexandra Yurkovsky has had poems in CHIRON REVIEW, FISH DRUM, HQ (UK), and MODERN HAIKU among other magazines. Her reviews have appeared in the SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW, EAST BAY EXPRESS, and SF BAY GUARDIAN.
Serving Up Cage by the Pound
(aka Homage to John Cage, via Cantos I-LXV, minus Canto XVII)
J
Then sat we amidships, wind Jamming the tiller
Under black fur-hood, lithe daughter of Ocean;
And the Buccentoro twenty yards off, Howling 'Stretti',
Choros Nympharum, goat-foot, with the pale
foot alternate;
Ectaban, the Clock ticks and fades out
(Seventh of Poitiers, Ninth of Acquitain).
To Dante's 'ciocco,' brand stuck in the Game
Slanging Each other sous les lauriers:
O
To the effect: Did he think the campaign was a
Joy-ride?
And the pOor devils dying of cold, outside Sorano,
And he put us under the cHiefs,
And we sit here uNder the wall,
Kung walked by the dynastiC temple
The stench of wet coAl, politicians
the great scabrous arse-hole, shittinG flies,
And before hEll mouth; dry plain
H
Must give up their Jewels, and take this money in paper,
And they said: Oh, we can't have it,
The Viel Held close to his side;
As is said in Cosimo's red leather Note book. Di sugello.
ANd he said one thing: As it Costs,
Auto-chenille, destroy All bacteria in the kidney
but when you Get him back in Ferrara find out
1255 bE it enacted;
N
'And in any case get the Job done.
One man is dead, and another has rotted his end Off
Having made all things He cd
To Nicolo (ainé) Pitigliano
Compleynt, Compleynt I heard upon a day,
'I remember having written you while Congress sat at Annapolis,
le compte du Gouvernement... Monsieur Saint-Libin
and a single Emperor, equally arbitrary, bloody,
C
'Monsieur Adams,' said the Emperor, 'il ya cent ans que Je vous ai vu.'
So some subaltern gave the Order to fire
That is so proud He hath Love for a name
'Thou shalt Not,' said Martin Van Buren, 'jail 'em for debt.'
His Holiness expressed a polite Curiosity
as to how His Excellency had chased those
Spring overborne into summer
late into spring the leafy Autumn
'never Gather together
From the marshes, by Circeo, where no one Else
would have drained it.
A
2 Jan 1622
Cenzo Grcolini
things, persons et Omnia alia juva
whatever
any peasant while He works with the same.
With usura hath No man a house of good stone
That day there was Cloud over Zoagli
And for three days snow cloud over the sea
The red flame going seaward.
By this gate Art thou measured.
is rather good at imitating the sergeant
Rain; Empty river; a voyage,
G
Leopold cut down the debt interest
and put the Jesuits out
and put end to the Inquisition
in Our eye.
And I have told you of how tHings were under Duke
Leopold in Siena
the FIVE grains, said Chin Nang, that are
wheat, rice millet, gros blé and chic peas
So that Tien-Tan Chose bulls, a thousand
And TCHUN the new Lord was dying
but Awoke to name Li-Chun his heir
SUNG died of levying taxes
Gimcracks, SUNG died under HOEI the slider
And Malacca came into our Empire,
E
Without asking what forces my action
you are, indeed, subJects of a great realm
De librO CHI-KING sic censeo
So the Jesuits brougHt in astronomy
YOONG TCHING
his fourth soN, to honour his forebears
Acquit of evil intention
or inClination to perseverance in error
towArds sending of Ellsworth
To John's bro, the sherrif, we lay a kind of word
in passinG
Jurors refusE to take oath
Conclusion
(aka The Last Pound of Cage, via Cantos LXVI-CIX,
along with Canto XVII previously omitted for lacking the required 'J')
J
game is not very plentiful. Dined at Amiens
put up at Abbeville. Dover view. Mr. Johnson
Whereof memory Of man runneth not to the contrary
How shall the plow be kept in hands of owners not hirelings?
... if the Neutrality, a minister to all neutral courts
might be useful
Dec. 31 Amsterdam 1780
Countenance only enemies of our constitution.
set our seamen ashore at St Jago de Cuba
A German ambassador once told me he cdn't bear
St Paul
Fear God and the stupidity of the populace,
but not Economic system'
O
not fishin', Just watchin' the water,
By the square elm Of Ida
40 geese are assembled
I Had not loved thee half so well
Ain' committed No federal crime,
jes a slaight misdemeanour'
Zeus lies in Ceres' bosom
When with his hunting dog I see A cloud
Gemisto stemmed all from Neptune
hence the Rimini bas reliefs
Si tuit li dolh El plor
H
Versus who scatter old records
ignoring the hsien form
and Jump to the winning side
(turbae)
'Dumheit, nicht Bosheit,' said Old Margherita
(or Elenor? dowager)
If I Had known more then,
cd/have asked him,
It was Saturday, the 1st day of April, toward Noon,
And to know Whom to trust,
Ching Hao.
Animus humanus amor non est,
The GREAT CRYSTAL
doubling the pine, and to cloud.
and that Every plant hath its seed
so will the weasel eat rue,
and the swallows nip celandine
N
or as above stated 'Jagged'
l'amor che ti fa bella
... treaties Of commerce only,
Blue jay, my blue jay
Alexander paid the debts of His soldiery
Aether pluit Numismata
Melik & Edward struck Coins-with-a-sword,
Agada, Ganna, Faasa
hsin1
Till the blue Grass turn yellow
and the yellow leaves float in air
and some Habsburg plowed his imperial furrow
Eu ZoOn
C
(Junipers, south side) M. Talleyrand
spruce and fir take the North
keines...e Orgei. line 639. Leucothoe
1850: gt objection to any Honesty in the White House
Na Ki talk made out of wind noise,
Is this a divagation:
Talleyrand saved Europe for a Century
And was her daughter like that;
The azalea is Grown while we sleep
nurse of industry (25 Edward III)
BRUM
A
Pro Veritate...
curtilagia teneant,
enough land About each of them
G
Out of Phlegethon!
out of Phlegethon,
Gerhart
art thou come forth out of Phlegethon?
E
One man is dead, and another has rotted his End off
Hints: 1) This poem figuratively does exactly what the title states: it serves up John Cage via THE CANTOS of Ezra Pound. 2) Capital letters within lines, as well as certain initial caps, may be significant in performing this service.
Point of Interest: JOHN CAGE is an 8-letter name. Using it to create 8 stanzas of 8 lines generates a 64-line poem. The I Ching is built from 8 trigrams. Combining them generates 64 hexagrams. As someone directed to chance operations by D. T. Suzuki's Zen lectures and the I Ching, Cage undoubtedly would have enjoyed this fact.
Copyright © Mudlark 2000 and 2001
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