To Lucifer the Sameness
lucifer as verb
can we lucifer the martyr
who is the martyr
mire encasing the feet
to lucifer rhyme
can cereal rhyme with ethereal
can Midas rhyme with sinus
pastime for bourgeois passengers on the boat to veracity
according to the kissed lisper
what is Carol’s relation to ficus
what is ululation’s relation to reign
who is Carol and does she research ululation
to lucifer ADHD
to lucifer the sameness
could Carol lyricize it
when she is finished with her research paper
can paper rhyme with vapor
can vapor enclose the lucifer of your progress
toward the name that was once yours
before the lyricized ficus took it away
The Rumor Mill of the Plucked-Out Eyelashes
her name was originally Carol
she became Oscar
Oscar and I talked about Oscar on the phone
the mother joined the discussion
there was violence between the mother and Oscar
violence of tone, not violence of members and limbs
a posture of repose underlay the violence
conversation stretched like a tendon
he gave instructions about his nipples and their treatment
the instructions were repeated over the course of several decades
he wasn't striving for special effects
Oscar's place in the square room was fixed
Oscar lay beside the swimming pool
he tried on my floral pants and claimed them for his own
in the next room we made a recording of "I'm the Greatest Star"
a cassette tape with flaws
I repeated the word mysterious and broke it into four pieces
at the bar on West 15th Street
the Ralph Lauren slippers were a size too big
the girl without eyelashes
her brother also had no eyelashes
eyelashes plucked out in their sleep
the rumor mill of the plucked-out eyelashes
even in high school I understood the problem of his ankles
he wrapped his ankles
and dragged a briefcase from room to room
avoid looking at his face when he comes
it slackens and no longer signals sharp cognition
why must cognition be sharp
cannot cognition be muted and morose
can moroseness be sharp
imagine ordering fast fate at a drive-in restaurant
fast destiny
I’d like an apocalypse with hot sauce please
I’d like a very easy death, hold the onions
From the Author: These two pieces belong together because they both glancingly involve someone named Carol. Carol doesn’t really exist. I’ve known many Carols. I’m sure you know many, too. Famous Carols as well as not-famous Carols. Carol first appeared in “To Lucifer the Sameness,” and then, in “The Rumor Mill of the Plucked-Out Eyelashes,” Carol reappeared, this time renamed Oscar. So Carol/Oscar is the strange mascot or divinity underlying this pair of poems.
Wayne Koestenbaum—poet, critic, fiction-writer, artist, filmmaker—has published over twenty books, including Stubble Archipelago, Ultramarine, The Cheerful Scapegoat, Figure It Out, Camp Marmalade, My 1980s & Other Essays, Humiliation, Hotel Theory, Circus, Andy Warhol, Jackie Under My Skin, and The Queen’s Throat (nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award). Recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, and a Whiting Award, he is a Distinguished Professor of English, French, and Comparative Literature at the CUNY Graduate Center.
