Andrei Codrescu

Ars Polis
March 22, 2012 Codrescu Andrei

Ars Polis

 

the frequency of portraits in post-mortem inventories
in the 17th to the 18th century grows from 18 to 28 percent
while the percentage of religious portraits falls from 29 to 12 percent
George Vigarello

 

way too human too fast way too boring too quick
the wrong humans at that
humans that tick like clocks
the saints were in no hurry

nor the poor

every time a slum is being abolished
peoples’ right to get fucked up
is abridged
more immortality ground up like beef

display patties in square windows

no streets to perform on
no place to squat for a good shell game

OTB poetry parlor where are you?

poetry that good superstition
guessing where the third pea hides
anybody can play

you can’t be a bit superstitious
and a bit rational
a little in a book and a little outside

but you can keep betting
and never guessing

and when they explain everything on tv
Japanese woman arrested for killing virtual husband
on the crawl that used to be the street

you walk three frustrated miles
meeting no one you know no one who knows you
you could swear it’s the same place where you had
hundreds of friends and acquintances
the buildings haven’t moved
you never find out where the party is
 

The gaze doesn’t reveal anything
it places us instantly in a different situation
(Victor Brauner)

no point in looking for it
it’s not the past or the wrong city
it’s your transparent body

Sola la muerte es fuerte

Andrei Codrescu (www.codrescu.com) has been a commentator on All Things Considered since 1983. He is an homme-de-lettres whose novels, essays and poetry have been infiltrating the American psyche since he emigrated from his native Romania to Detroit in 1965. He is the author of forty books of poetry, fiction, and essays, and the founder of Exquisite Corpse. He has received a Peabody award for the PBS version of his film Road Scholar, and has reported for NPR and ABC News from Romania (1989) and Cuba (1996). His new books are The Poetry Lesson,(Princeton) and Bibliodeath: My Archives (with Life in Footnotes) (Antibookclub).