Category: Leaves of Glass (page 3 of 6)

In late 2007 I received a grant from Arts Victoria to write a series of poems based on correspondence between Australian poet Bernard O’Dowd and Walt Whitman. The results were published as Leaves of Glass by Sydney-based publisher Puncher and Wattmann in 2013.

W00t Wiitmeh: “To ah Commawn Pron”



B ceiling cat - b at eez wif meh - Iz r W00t Wiitmeh, 
               libaral az lusteh Naychar; 
Not want till teh sun xclusd yu, do I xclusds yu; 
Not want till teh watars refewez rutsl can haz yu, an teh gowayz 
          rutsl fur can haz yu, do meh
    Werdz
	Rutsl glstn an rutsl fur can haz? can haz yu. 
  
Meh Kitteh, Iz b wif yu nom nom - an I chag yu mayk peparashn
    to
	B
	Worfeh to meet meh, 
An I chag yu dat yu b payshen an parfet til Iz coem grl.
  
Til fen, Iz salut yu wif a sinifcatn l00k, dat yu can haz not 
      fogets meh. Srsly.

W00t!

1.
I luvs hao in dis powem Wiitmeh xows teh Ceiling Cat sesin ob teh bryd gr00m iz heer for teh bryd. B redy, b worfy, wen iz coem in yu. An him tayks awn dat Ceiling Cat ZOMG vishun, ware teh sadst an WTF ppl iz can haz nom nom wif a cone srly. Dis iz anofar inna lawng saries ob ppl, fings, places dat Wiitamun sez I can haz LOL wifin him, an cal i ob dey g00d. Fese daiz, hardar an hardar can haz imagine swch ZOMG. But wii haz to fink dat old w0lt can haz frew teh blk hor ob him naayshn, a WTF dat iz ded moer maricun fan i ofar WTF, an cald it LOL. Fare haz to b sumfin OMG in dat. Or iz can haz him iz crsy. Or bof.

Matt

2.
Yo dis powem iz ight but i s00 betta awnes srry homie iz true LOL

Tawnya

Walt Whitman,
‘To a Common Prostitute’
LOL

Gowayz ob LOL: Sawng ob Meh (O Hai!)

An Ceiling Cat sayed, im in ur waterz makin a ceiling.
LOLCats Bible, Genesis 1:6

     1.

O hai iz cebrayt meh, b in ur meh,
An wut I as00m yu shal as00m,
Fur iz atomm belons meh as srly belons yu. K.

Iz loef an nvyt meh sowl,
Iz leen an loef at meh eez obsarvn a speer ob summar LOL.

Meh tugn, evareh atomm ob meh bl00d, form'd fwom dis soyl, 
    dis aix,
Bawn hare ob Kitteh bawn hare fwom Kitteh teh saym, an feir
    Kitteh teh saym, YKWIS.
Iz haz Kitteh yrs iz parfect healf xan haz,
Iz can haz to cheezbrger til ded.

Ceiling cat an sch00ls in ur computaw
LOL Cat iz can haz wut dey r, but nevar sez,
Iz not want baf for g00d or bad, I parmit l00k 
      but sez awl can haz not,
Nachur wifowt chek but shr iz wif rngal enargeh. K?

K.


Kfxbai.

W.W., ‘Song of Myself’
Leaves of Grass, 1st edition.

Song of Meh Self

I am an enigma to myself.
B. O’D.




noble wings I grow 
		       when I take meh self out
of meh self  
	      but I find that too hot to handle

	for too long 

		        so I take meh self into
meh self again 		& find there caverns of cold 
eclipsed fears 
		& in there too some romans
catholics probably 
			standing around a grave

come not near meh I cry I have elapsed!
 
(like I'm an offer too good to countenance 
	or a nag whose racing days are done -

				  & so I take
meh self out of meh self again 
				& there you are 
floating in the stillborn air master & I -

guide & follower 
		    rolled into one 

				    chaff bag
            
fit to burst with oats & dried fruits master 

	I ask you to consider now that I
take meh self into the bodies of meh mates 

& they into meh self too

		  consider now meh limbs aka 
mates three of them carring a coffin towards 
a hole in the sky oh fred jim & ted 

				      struggle
with meh profane weight while eva looks on 

it's like a painting you might see reproduced 
in some magazine sent over from London or
your States 

	      the tragedy of it! 

				 at meh own

funeral, completely self-aware, 

				  dead & only 
just twenty four 

		    barely married too

barely alive 

more of a scapegrace than ted 
				oh his light-
	hearted lope I would pay gold 
to have it for meh walking rhythm 

				        now 
the moon looks down 
 
				on the meh self 

I knew 	   

		& the meh 

	that cannot be 

		meh

	self.



Secret Lib

re: the australeum (a secret society cf. ww leaves of grass

a love supreme in the court of love a library
book of love a doodle bug a statute of love

like some secret (liberation love democracy
man love & all aboard! the love ship demos

under the sign of libra it weighs at anchor
nestled in the leaves writing eva love notes 

my dear little bookworm with your freckles
& your ironbark hair oh how i've longed to

sink my teeth into your divine trunk (glass?
no that won't do that won't do at all will it

ridiculous really trunk oh dear oh deary meh
whatever would she make of that?! all right 

my secret memo how about something like 
will you meet meh in the cemetery after dark

scrap that! another planetoid pings into the
wastepaper basket so simply try & try again 

my love (how bold! my lovey one (warmer!
is it just meh or did it just get hot in here?

all right i simply must have you there it is - 
here in the library (i must have your mouth 

inside meh great scald of demos! i grow hard
yes something along those lines with a nice

bold touch a classical allusion perhaps (oh 
she does like those i am the wreck of your 

hesperus 		(yes! 		
			      & the 'sig line'?

	(yours       etc.?


			        brilliant.

					        etc.

We Don’t Usually Tell …

the sun that he does well to shine & shines well …


the moon that she illuminates the lover's skin 

the stars that they remind us of all things past

the sky that it does well to rain on our heads

the planets that they give birth to angry gods 

the earth that it spins on its axis & spins well

the gravity that it keeps our dreams grounded 

the elements that they fuse so well together 

the dinosaurs that they became extinct so well

the radiation that it glows so brightly yellow

the fossils that they tell old stories so well

the oceans that they make love to the moon

the mountains that they hide our rocky hearts

the deserts that they make the cities disappear

the air that it breathes & we too breathe well 

the sounds that they enchant us in the night

the darkness that it covers the earth with love

the rivers that they carry our dead ones away

the fire that it warms our worn hands so well

the ice that it lingers so sweetly in the spring 

the poets that they tear & mend our languages -

… nor the grass do we praise for being green …
B.O’D.