Would you Wear my Eyes
Jun. 20th, 2002 11:53 amMy body is a torn mattress,
Disheveled throbbing place
For the comings and goings
Of loveless transients.
The whole of me
Is an unfurnished room
Filled with dank breath
Escaping in gasps to nowhere.
Before completely objective mirrors
I have shot myself with my eyes,
But death refused my advances.
I have walked on my walls each night
Through strange landscapes in my head.
I have brushed my teeth with orange peel,
Iced with cold blood from the dripping faucets.
My face is covered with mapes of dead nations;
My hair is littered with drying ragweed.
Bitter raisins drip haphazardly from my nostrils
While schools of glowing minnows swim from my mouth.
The nipples of my breasts are sun-sunbrowned cockleburs;
Long-forgotten Indian tribes fight battles on my chest
Unaware of the sunken ships rotting in my stomach
My legs are charred remains of burned cypress trees;
My feet are covered with moss from bayous, flowing
Across my floor.
I can't go out anymore.
I shall sit on my ceiling.
Would you wear my eyes?
-Bob Kaufman-
Disheveled throbbing place
For the comings and goings
Of loveless transients.
The whole of me
Is an unfurnished room
Filled with dank breath
Escaping in gasps to nowhere.
Before completely objective mirrors
I have shot myself with my eyes,
But death refused my advances.
I have walked on my walls each night
Through strange landscapes in my head.
I have brushed my teeth with orange peel,
Iced with cold blood from the dripping faucets.
My face is covered with mapes of dead nations;
My hair is littered with drying ragweed.
Bitter raisins drip haphazardly from my nostrils
While schools of glowing minnows swim from my mouth.
The nipples of my breasts are sun-sunbrowned cockleburs;
Long-forgotten Indian tribes fight battles on my chest
Unaware of the sunken ships rotting in my stomach
My legs are charred remains of burned cypress trees;
My feet are covered with moss from bayous, flowing
Across my floor.
I can't go out anymore.
I shall sit on my ceiling.
Would you wear my eyes?
-Bob Kaufman-