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Let Hell-Towers Fall

I

Hart Crane’s “The Broken Tower” rewritten

God / at dawn / dispatches / me / to wander / the / cathedral / lawn

Have you not heard? Have you not seen shadows in the tower?

The bells, I say, the bells break down their tower
And swing I know not where
I, their slave

I entered the broken world to trace the visionary company of love
I know not where
Its voice an instant on the wind

My word I poured
But it was derivative of the judge
Whose clear word strikes wounded hope

Mortal love stirs latent power
. . . and builds within, a tower not of stone
. . .

Gravel heart, let down your guard
Look down from shadows in the tower
Eyes enshrine the lake of love above
Let it fall

II

forgetters’ “Hart Crane Pike” lyrics transcript

“. . . how do you introduce yourself to the darkness in the world . . . and how do you walk away from it and have something other than despair and grief to speak of? . . . you know, we have a way of talking about beauty as though beauty were only skin deep . . . but real beauty is so deep you have to move into the darkness in order to understand what beauty is. . . .”

In the city, in the summer of the city: record weather; the war is everywhere, unsaid.
On the outskirts, at the railing: real leaning — it’s no postcard; you’ve seen the shadows in the tower.

I hold your arm like warm marble: holding on — dead center; your world is knocking on the air.

Are you coastal? Are you wayward? Mid-Atlantic, unstated; we seek the uncommon era.
And we can go there . . . in a Hart Crane Pike in a fugitive moment.

Black glass and white metal tied up in yellow ribbon; the less we say the more it gathers.
Tunnel vision and blood libel; holy rollers and show trials; I see the angel in the tower.
And we can go there . . . in a Hart Crane Pike in a fugitive moment.

We’ve seen the night . . . lifted in your arms; you’re still as stone.
Into the eye . . . of darkness made visible; and we’re lost at home.

Can you concede . . . there’s danger in your innocence? And can you believe . . . in someone else’s . . . ?

Can you believe? . . . Can you believe? . . . Can you believe!? . . . Can you believe?

III

Honor Levy, hundfanmaidchen (dogcatch-girl)

“Don’t worry — I’ll be your Neville Chamberlain . . .” — La Snacks

Frau autor’s Mein Furst Bukh . . .
I don’t rekommend (“Rekommandantnicht!”)
but do (“Abaicht!”)
rek “Good Boys”
but “Cancel Me” (“DieShandafurmik!”)?
about “canceling” (“Dieshandarung!”)
you choose (“Abdaichtodanicht!”)

“And if you hate my guts . . . it’s nothing unexpected.” — The Koopas

“The Broken Tower” by Hart Crane @ AllPoetry.com“Heart Crane Pike” by forgetters @ YouTube.com“Transcript: April 30, 2010” @ PBS.org[“Honor Swastika”] by “LeftWingNationalist” r/redscarepod @ Reddit.com (Section 230)“Kristin . . .” by La Snacks @ Bandcamp.com“Daddy” by Sylvia Plath @ PoetryFoundation.org“Lady Lazarus” by Sylvia Plath @ PoetryFoundation.org“Good Boys” by Honor Levy @ NewYorker.com“Nothing Unexpected” by The Koopas @ Bandcamp.com
Sep 2024