by Jack Foley
she
turned to him and asked him if he loved her
his
answer was to turn away in silence
she
said, “Ah, the words don’t matter”
the bad instruction
our culture offers in almost every area
we were sailing along
the misleading instruction
our culture offers in almost every area
on moonlight bay
the tragic, tear-inducing instruction
our culture offers in almost every area
you could hear the darkies singing
the strange instruction
our culture offers in almost every area
they seemed to say,
the sexually ambiguous instruction
our culture offers in almost every area
“You have stolen my heart
the ignorant instruction
our culture offers in almost every area
now don’t go way”
the dangerous, damaging instruction
our culture offers in almost every area
as we sang love’s old sweet song
the fearful, morally reprehensible instruction
our culture offers in almost every area
on moon
the lying instruction
our culture offers in almost every area
light
the life-destroying instruction
our culture offers in almost every area
bay
the shit-eating instruction
our culture offers in almost every area
if you
the unintentionally comic instruction
our culture offers in almost every area
were the only
and so our culture says,
“Think for yourself,”
gel in the world
a phrase which has at its heart the notion of INDIVIDUALISM
and I
a lynchpin of the bad instruction
were the only
our culture offers in almost every area
(boy)
* * * * *
“On Moonlight Bay”: (1912) music Percy Wenrich; words
Edward Madden
“If You Were the Only Girl in the World”: (1916) music
Nat D. Ayer; words Clifford Grey
________________________________
Jack Foley’s radio show, Cover to Cover, is heard on Berkeley,
California radio station KPFA every Wednesday at 3; his column, “Foley’s
Books,” appears in the online magazine Alsop Review. He has
published 11 books of poetry, 5 books of criticism, and Visions and
Affiliations, a chronoencyclopedia of California poetry. In 2010 Foley was
awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Berkeley Poetry Festival, and
June 5, 2010 was proclaimed “Jack Foley Day” in Berkeley. A webfestschrift
celebrating his life and work can be found in the current Tower Journal: www.towerjournal.com.
Website: www.jack-adellefoley.com/
Wikipedia
article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Foley_(poet)#Biography.
Jack Foley contributes regularly to this blog.
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