Tidal News
Poems
By John Curl
Buy this
book
Selections From Tidal
News
Contents
Beaded
Curtains
Taking
Care of Business
Childlike Innocence Always
War
Artist
Creates
With
the Proliferation
The
Destatuization of Liberty
Connections
Three
Quick Jabs
Consciousness Of
Of Two
Evils
Be A
Union Organizer
Sunrise and Sunset
An
Alphabet of US Corporations
The
Commissar
Painting A Tiger
Formation of the New International
BEADED CURTAINS
you peek through the beaded curtains
and see the moon gliding through a thin cloud;
you and your lover lie scarcely moving
for a long long time while a brook
trickles through your hearts.
suddenly the strawboss is handing you
your paycheck five dollars short,
you lean your bootheel into the shovel
and look up into the snowflakes.
they try to break through
the picketline but a bleeding sunset
fills the entire sky
TAKING CARE OF
BUSINESS
an exploitation of human labor business
a looking out for number one business
a make your pile and get out business
a boss order abomination business
a whatever the market will bear business
a cheat lie steal business
a do what you're told or else business
a degradation inflation depression toxic wastes business
a hemorrhoids beat your best friend business
a draft plutonium gangster business
an atomic dust imperial world war three business
a business as usual business
where is the honesty of penguins?
where is the justice of sunrise?
must free people be prepared to sleep as well
in garages, under bushes or in dreams?
even at this moment the boardmembers meet
in the condemned sewer to divide our livers
into exacting shares, sealing the fate
of munition profits on
our ability to have children
a rapture stars tumble along your spine business
a fields of orange poppies spread their knees to the
mountains of your eyes business
a mass demonstration rubbed with alchemical smoke business
a conch shells withdrawing energy from stuffed ballot
boxes business
a lifting the consecrated picket line to the east business
a boycott all businesses business
a submachineguns melt in cops screaming hands business
a collectivizing your boss' business business
an abolishing business
a taking care of business
CHILDLIKE INNOCENCE
ALWAYS
corruption injustice abuse
captivity injury anguish
Choking inhuman abasement
Chile Indonesia Angola
cobwebs insanity ambush
conspire intruder assassin
cobra infernal agony
Chad Iraq Argentina
cartridges impale assault
cannibal internment autopsy
cancer intimidate aghast
coup intervene asphyxiate
Cuba India Algeria
Cambodia Ireland Arabia
colonial incorporated aggression
challenge insurgent accusing
companions invoke agitation
courage illumine awaken
confiscate imagine abolish
collective indigenous alliance
commune international augury
cleansing infinite acquittal
climax intimate absolution
compassion insight amnesty
childlike innocence always
WAR ARTIST
war artist, trained in trauma school
rehearsed to act a bloody part
and now so downhearted
cause we ain't letting you practice your art
the general wakes with a sour stomach
the general examines his toilet paper for blood
the general is upset at the state of his jelly and toast
the general calls for his metallic wraparound sunglasses
the general decides to alter the statistics
the general bumps into his wife's lover at the urinal
the general's doctor's late for the day's first injection
the general orders the sailor to strap on the dildo and
fetch the whip
the general steps into the conference room and strides
confidently up to the pinned map
war artist, strutting there
with your neutron bombs corseting your flabby sections
you're going to find someday
you can't hide from your shadow and your reflection
you can't hide from your shadows and your reflections
CREATES
creates the Indian Ocean
blows a silver ring around the moon
runs his tongue along his lover's burning ridge
tears up ballot in front of voting booth
rides the wave of the marching chant
constipates the chairman of the board
heals a bleeding mind
kisses a pimple on her lover's ass
thanks a sparrow for a song
takes a bite from the cat's dish
ties the ideologist's shoelaces together
abolishes the credit card
radiates in waves of pleasure through your lover's dream
body
knocks over the daffodils, exposing the microphone to the
general strike committee
loosens your pelvic shores
shares his carrot with his little brother
denies the charges
disappears down a drain pipe
trisects the pentagon
gives the broker three years parole
reveals Chaney's novocaine habit
pulls off Gingrich's buttons
appears as a great dane at four a.m. in Bush's bedroom
takes a long piss on the J. Edgar Hoover memorial
blackjack
steps into Reagan's dream dressed like Mother Jones with
her sleeves rolled up
throws a family reunion
soaks all the beans overnight in a big pot
hands out the bowls and spoons
passes round the fair shares
creates
WITH THE
PROLIFERATION
(with the proliferation of
advanced weaponry,
nuclear war becomes an increasing
statistical probability)
you squat by a log fire
a sunshower passing a country road
your thigh muscle stretches to Borneo
the tiny soft hairs on the hill of your buttock
a salamander sits beneath a cherry tree
your sweetheart in overalls
each leaf forms around its energy absorbers
the secret meaning in that look in your eye
a house remembers all of its visitors
shavings twist off a pencil into negative space
a bluebell is heartsick for a false lover
logs jamming galactic river
being weighed down by "the lessons of history"
I had a good boss once&emdash;he kept apologizing
they better not try to close that window before we get our
food stamps
a train wheel crushes a grasshopper
brigades of landlords landmine the trail to the source
a scarlet tanager contemplates suicide
stop I've seen enough
evening breezes fill the heads of state
oppression breeds the struggle against itself
a green marble rolls down a stone path
a sudden storm drenches a financier
worm breaking in half
river of honey flows through a thirsty cavern
your sweetheart taking off overalls
spinning on the edge of the world
a picketline encircles the great silence
you notice a universe in the palm of your hand
following your heart through a concrete wall
you see god leaping in the embers
spell to prevent the next world war
a million grandmothers surround the pentagon
the president is attacked by a poem in the getaway car
I heard it on the unemployment line
missiles misfire on launching pads
the neighbors march on city hall
unpiling the money of the world
becoming all you know you can be
history means nothing unless
you're willing to risk everything for love
always expect the impossible
THE DESTATUIZATION OF
LIBERTY
the executive calls the senator at the monopoly hernia
money bunion castration too much perfume
mass picketing is declared illegal
insurance abomination swallow your tongue
your lover's hand is like dry ice
a pillar of salt looks back at Gomorrah
liberty mourns through the dirty barred window
meets her lover in a secret melody
liberty roaming through the night forest
in purifying agony
you run your tongue along your lover's ocean cheek
you will be neither employer nor employee
the chairman of the board is paraded through the jeering
streets
Paine and Jefferson go on a great wandering
collectivization is circulation of light
why did the lovers sleep with their glasses on?
the better to see their dreams
YOUR LOVER'S NECK
you touch your lover's neck
beneath a willow heavy with wind;
crystals slide into each other but
the cop's hand is grasping your shoulder;
they drag you into the interrogation room
when at the galactic center
your sweetheart slips into something
a little more comfortable,
you are inspired by the skin
of an apricot and escape together
on a winged deer through the forest
BETWEEN
mud oozes between your toes
you notice a twig catch
on a mossy rock in a backwhisper
of the current as your landlord's face
appears in the drenching rain,
you grasp for the fire opal but
it vanishes, all prisoners for
crimes against property are released,
a green-tailed bird alights on your lover
in bed you pull down the covers and climb
along the edge of tomorrow
into a grove of ferns
CONSCIOUSNESS OF
the way you unhook your brassiere
running barefoot through a country puddle
a calico cat in a deepest yawn
what we are and what we can be
a bird of paradise outside your window
being forced to take a factory job
the moment you first realized America is not very
democratic
the root system of every plant you see
being careful not to step on a black beetle
the surgeon sutures the incision
your lover whispers in your ear
the thoughts of the ocean at sunset
a puma climbs a cherry tree
allying the nations of our mind
into a new resurgence deep
in an awesome future
we walk beyond dreamless sleep
THREE QUICK JABS
1
Starr, ordering out the national guard,
bites his tongue in the same spot twice,
while a log drifts in the middle of the ocean
and a great bird appears in the evening sky
2
as the general strike moves
into its third day, the bombardiers
are put on ready alert, the vomitgas
canisters are discovered defective,
Gingrich keeps appearing at the toilet door,
a bee climbs into a chrysanthemum
3
sunset flashes off a mountain top,
the brigadier breaks and runs,
a cat peeking out of a brown paper bag,
the lover is awakened by a sweet hand,
Quail dictating his confession,
a young hummingbird stretches her wings,
the stocks are fed into the shredder,
a raindrop on the back of your hand
OF TWO EVILS
Mussolini spits at Hitler (behind his back)
peace candidate Quasimoto bombs the restless ghost of LBJ
Gore the Lesser sticks his little finger in Bush's left
ear
Reagan the Greater sucks the droopy head off Nixon's
Billybeer
let the slavedriver hire the judge
let the vice president's plot be hatched
let the party hacks dream of blood
let the vice squad's ravaging disease
your lover slips a hand inside your shirt
the scent of lilacs rustles the leaves
I'd go to Budapest to spend a night with you
your kiss your lover's secret desire
children crayon the senate
an act of god illumines this very moment
your former boss asks permission to take a break
the money belongs to the hungry
democracy is evicting your landlord
the twopartysystem means we're not invited
party collectivist it's always electionday
vote in the streets
rock me all night long
BE A UNION ORGANIZER
union disunion reunion unison unity
laborunion trade union industrial union
union card union hall union meeting union songs
union shop union label union benefits union
hacks union dues union pension fund union racketeers
break the union company union business unionism union
history union struggles one big union revolutionary
unionism union of workers union of industries union
of like minds union of black and white union of women
and men union of soul and heart union of elders and
children union of sensual and spiritual union of lowest
and highest union of winter and summer union of
red and green union of earth and sun union
of shore and tide union of muscle and energy stream
union of seeker and sought union of something and nothing
union of birth and death union of profundity and
absurdity union of sperm and egg union of freedom
and necessity union of socialism and democracy union
of form and meaning union of laughter and
tears union of nations
union disunion reunion unison unity
BE A UNION ORGANIZER
SUNRISE AND SUNSET
sunrise and sunset last all day long
a lover's thigh is kissed in a field of clover
strings of pelicans glide above the breakers
as we run hand in hand along the tide
your sweetheart awakes with a ruby in his mouth
the sounds of rainforest echo in your soul
I melt when you say that to me
they order the bombs into production
another hungry welfare cheat is caught
worker replaced by machine
the executioner licks his teeth
someone reads the marriage of heaven
and hell in the street
a baby is sobbing in a desolate gutter
the archbishop appears at the tattoo parlor
a gaggle of politicians try to hang themselves
the presses jam against lies so there are no newspapers
the stockbrokers and hypocrites blaming each other
the computers all spit the same answer
ninety-four senators testify they've lost their memory
the day the world was saved
all the conflicting ideologies announce it proves them
right
a Harris poll shows 23% opposed
the orangutans were busy fucking
a little girl asked her older sister, what does saved
mean?
I've loved you secretly for a long time
AN ALPHABET OF U.S. CORPORATIONS
WITH INVESTMENTS
IN EL SALVADOR
Alcoa Aluminum
Bristol-Myers
Crown-Zellerbach
Dow Chemicals
Exxon
Foremost Dairies
General Motors
Hanover Insurance
IBM
Jack Off A Dead Pig
Kimberly-Clark
Lynching The Spirit Of Jaguars
Max Factor
Nestle
Otis Elevator
Pan Am
Quagmire Beneath Your Feet
Ralston Purina
Sears Roebuck
Texaco
Underwood Meats
Vea La Luna Muerta
Warships Cruise Off The North Shore
Xerox
Yelling Disembowelment
Zigzag Lightning Splits The Stock
Yet The Children Cannot Be Destroyed
X-Out The Name On The Deed
Why Are You Doing This To Your Sister
Violar La Tomba De Los Loros
Undressed By The General's Bloodthirst
Tronchando El Three M Company
Standard Oil Explodes On Saturday
Rocks Tumble Down A Narrow Gorge
Quaking The Treasurer's Beachhouse
Proctor And Gamble Palido Como Copos De Jabon
Orden Spits Poison Writhing On Its Side
Never Push The People Too Far
Mutilando Monsato Chemical Dividendos
Liars Shuddering Like Wet Vultures
Kneecap Splatter On The Steps Of The Capital
Judgment In Long Shadows
IT&T Being Hereby Served Notice
Hearing Jugular Unions De Aranas Y Angeles
Gunbarrel In The General's Soft Corporation
Folgers Coffee Bankrupted by Armed Grandmothers
Entering Illuminated Territory
Duendes Surface On The Assembly Line
Cleansing Chevron Oil From The Common Plantation
Banco De America Surrounded By Visionaries
America Central Oceanic Amazement
THE COMMISSAR
the commissar orders you to step behind the line
you scrub your sweetheart's back
the chairman strides to the podium to thunderous applause
and
announces the central committee's unanimous decision in
the
interest of the proletariat
helping your neighbor fix a window
the government owns the industries so it's illegal to
strike
reading a story to a sick child
a blackberry flower opens its soul to the wind
socialism is / socialism is not
hold hands at the movies
dip your spoon into the honeypot
take your fair share no less no more
defy authority
abolish all bossism
pass beyond the verbal mind
loving with your soul
squatting on the earth, stretching to the sky
PAINTING A TIGER
painting a tiger in realistic detail
then reaching in and pulling its tail
we must be visible down through the marrow
midwives of transitions
the language of dream
the hinges of realities
composting the same conscious ground
before the act
during the act
after the act:
the WORD
you know you got it if it moves you
FORMATION OF THE NEW
INTERNATIONAL
a chainsaw breaks the silence
Hitler commits suicide
decadence is a scarce commodity better grab your share
man I'd like to get into her pants
the moment after you die
and what of the voice in the embers
I know you have visions too
hey we got a common ancestor
lifting the spirit from the cell
you blow at a house of draft cards
Rockefeller dives into an oil slick
the reactor is unveiled at the wax museum
singing from your higher self
a honeysuckle stretches into a pecan tree
the sound of waves on a moonless night
sweetcrotch on a Sunday morning
socialism is whatever makes us feel good
only we can save ourselves
Copyright © 1982, 1997 by John Curl. All
Rights Reserved.