Sunday 20 June 2010

MICHAEL MCCLURE - Moire, for Francis Crick



Michael McClure was born on October 20, 1932, in Marysville, Kansas. He moved to San Francisco in 1954 to study art. He found fame as one of the five poets including Allen Ginsberg, who read at the famous San Francisco Six Gallery reading in 1955. He subsequently became a key member of the Beats, immortalsed as " Pat McClear " in Jack Kerouac's " Big Sur " 1961. He formed a close alliance with Gary Snyder, another shaman poet, who talks through experience. Michael McClure was also a proud experimenter of psychedelics as a means of psychic liberation.
He later wrote a full account of the 1955 "Six Poets at the Six Gallery" reading in his book "Scratching the Beat Surface 1982. A prolific author of countles inspired tomes, a role model for Jim Morrison the Lizard King.
McClure still continues to sparkle his words drifting ito distant time and back again, collaborating with the musician Terry Riley, creating spotnaneous music and voice, he also collaborates regularly with his long term friend, the Doors keyboardist Ray Manzanarek. He has appeared in many cult movies , and it was in Scorcese's " Last Waltz " that I first encountered him reading a poem by Chaucher lilted rolled.
Toes tapping gently into the water, I find a lot of Zen in his breaths, with the sparkle of illumination dancing in Surrealist gardens.
An hour-long documentary film called " ABSTRACT ALCHEMIST OF FLESH " by Colin Still has just been released. An hour long fil exploring the range and diversity of his work. The film icludes a sequence in which the young poet declaims his poems in "beast language" to the lions in San Francisco Zoo.
Genius, well thats my opinion.
The following poem is inspired by the Nobel biologist Francis Crick. Nice !!!!!!!




Moire

for Francis Crick

1.THE CHANTING IN TIBET HAS NOT CEASED -
IT IS AS IMMORTAL AS MEAT.
2.HORNS, CYMBALS, AND LIGHNING BOLTS
OVER GLACIERS.
3.BEARDED SEA OTTERS CRACKING MUSSELS
ON STONES ON THEI STOMACHS.
4.COYOTES LAUGH AND PRANCE ON POINT
REYES.
5. REVIVE THE PLEISTTOCENE.
6.PLEISTOCENE IS NOT GLACIO-THERMAL-
IT IS MEAT-MAMMALIAN.
7.CRACKS IN THE SIDEWALK REFLECT THE
DISPERSION OF CLOUDS AND AURAS OF
COLOR.
8.REALTY IS A POINT. A PLATEAU, A MYSTERY.
9.IT MAY BE PENETRATED.
10.WILDFLOWERS; MAN ROOT, SEPTEMBER
BLACKBERRIES, MONKEYFLOWERS.
11.POEMS AND PERCEPTIONS PENETRATE THE
PLATEAU.
12.SUCCULENT GARDENS HANG ON CLIFFS.
13.THE VELVET BUTTERFLY AND THE SMILING
WEASEL.
14.BENIGN VISAGES FLOATING IN AIR.
15.SPIRIT IS ACTION.
16.ACTION IS PROTEIN.
17.BONES OF THE SABER TUSK IN ASPHALT.
18.MOTILE POEMS LIKE FINGERS OR ROOT
TIPS.
19.AMINO TRIGGERS IN SPACE.
20.WE ARE ACTIVITY.
21'BELOW US IS STEADY AND SOLID.
22.SOON ENOUGH.
23.PERHAPS WE RETURN TO A POOL- STEADY
AND SOLID.
24.NO MATTER- ANTI-MATTER.
25.WE HAVE THE JOY OF HERETICS.
26.
WE DID NOT CHOOSE IT - WE ARE.
27.PERFECT.
28.PERFECT PLATEAU BECOMING ODORS AND
TOUCHES.
29.I DID NOT KNOW THIS IS NATURE.
30.THE BLANKET FLOWS OUT OF THE WINDOW
-ON IT ARE YELLOW BANDS WOVEN WITH
RED BISON.
31.SOLID BLACKNESS ABOVE AND BELOW.
32.MUSIC BETWEEN.
33.FORESTS OF MOSS IN THE COLD STREAM.
34.BULK OF A DEAD SEA LION- DARK EYES
OPEN.
35.THE DESERT IS ALIVE
36.THE FIR FEELS THE SOLSTICE.
37.SENSE HORIZONTALLY, ASPIRE VERTI-
CALLY - AGNOSIA.
38.KEATS, DIRAC, DIONYSIUS THE AREOPA-
GITE.
39.TRUMPETS, CYMBALS, WARM GRASS, ROAR
OF A MOTORCYCLE.
40.LEATHER, QUARTZ, AND CINNAMON.
41.DISSOLTION IS A PRIVILEGE.
42.HAIL PLANARIAN !
43.SWEET, WARN AND ODOUROS IN THE
AUTUMN SUN.
44.BLACKER THAN BLACK, BLUE-BLACK - A
MIRROR REFLECTING REDS.
45.SCREAMS AND FLAMES OVER THE HORIZON.
46.CREAK OF EUCALYPTUS BOUGHS.
47.THE PLATEAU IS A POINT, THE MASK OF A
DIMENSION.
48.THE MASK IS ENFORCED BY ENSOCIALIZA-
TION OF PERCEPTIONS.
49.SEPTEMBER BLACKBERRIES ARE FREE.
50.THERE ARE STILL BLOSSOMS.
51.CONDENSATION FALLS PATTERING ON
LEAVES.
52.MACHINE GUNS COMMUNICATE BULLETS.
53.BOMBS ARE SYMBOLS FORMEAT THOUGHTS.
54.FACES OF MALEOVLOENCE AND FOLLY
STARE FROM THE WALLS.
55.THE FLEECE MOVING IN THE BREEZE BY THE
FIRE IS LOVELY.
56.WE ARE OLD WOLVES, INDIANS, CREAT-
URES.
57.ETERNITY BECOMES BROWN-GOLD FOR AN
INSTANT.
58.TIME IS THE LONG WAY BACK.
59.IGNORANCE, LIKE INFORMATION, IS A
LEVER.
60.THE BODY'S ODORS- THE BERRY'S ODORS.
61.THE MASS OF INFORMATION WHITES OUT.
62.RAINBOW AGAINST WHITE- PROJECTED
ON BLACK.
63.THE SELVES FLYING THROUGH THE BODY
HAVE FACES.
64.THEY STREAM WITH TAILS OF COLORS.
65.SENATIN MAY PRECEDE INFORMATIOM.
66.WE DIVE BOTH DOWN AND OUTWARD.
67.SOLIDARITY AND VIBRATION.
68.UNEXPECTE PROFILES AND FACES.
69.THE BRAMBLE TANGLE IS A MOVING SCULP-
TURE.
70.DRAGONS OF SPACE AND MATTER.
71.FALSE PERCEPTIONS MIMIC THE REAL- A
COVER.
72.THE BODY MAY BE DIAGRAMMED WITH
COLORS AND ODORS.
73.THERE IS A FIRE AND TRAJECTORIES OF
ENERGIES.
74.BEYOND THE MASK OF YHE POINT ARE
TRILLIONIC INTERLOCKED CONSTLLA-
TIONS.
75.PLEASUES ARE NOT RELATIVE BUT
ACTUAL - BLACKBERRIES, SEA LIONS,
TENDRILS.
76.PERCEPPTIONS ARE HERETIC - THEY
NEGATE ABSCENCE.
77.ABSENCE IS LACK OF PERCEPTION.
78.THE MUSSEL SHELL CRACKS ON THE ROCK.
79.WAVES OF WATER AND PROTOPLASM.
80.COYOTE SHIT- THE TAJ MAHAL.
81.WINGED TIGERS ENCASED IN TRANS-
PARENT SILVER.
82.MY WHISKERS - THE WOLF'S BEARD.



FROM-
September Backberries - Michael McClure, 1974, New Directions

2 comments:

  1. lovely... ta for sharing mate... happy solstice. xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. cheers, happy solstice to you too. xx

    ReplyDelete