Clark Coolidge reads POET at Moe's.

We had a nice gathering of two poets, friends of Clark's, and Francine and Bob, and Clark and Susan and myself at Burma Royal....on Telegraph Avenue.  We had two tea salads, that we all enjoyed, soups, and main dishes: catfish in banana leaf, with Tamirand...which made all the difference.  We drank an Italian Pinot Grigio, and enjoyed chatting about POET, Clark says, inspired to some extent by David Meltzer's last book, I used to be a Poet .

Here are a couple of  Clark's poems to get the flavor:

I give instructions in my poems
you must follow them to the ends of
tura lura independence platform
forget any leaden attempts along the way
this is fortissimo serious
there'll be no popcorn.

This is the lead poem, but he said tonight he was going to read from the last third of the book.

The air in the poet
the hue of the poet
the torque of the poet
the cry of the poet
the poet's speed
the poet's reach
the poet's cover
when you see the poet
when you quiz the poet
when you learn the poet
sends the poem
corners the poem
ends the poem
the poet on paper  the poet in answer
the poet on the wind
 the poet in fact 

the poet as type
the poet as friend?
harboring a poet you're harboring a poem
poet cracks wise cracks wide open
you're getting that poem feeling
the sieve of the poem
the latch of the poem
the air of the poem
the still of the poem
the the of the of of the poem  

And, one more: to end...one left unread:

The poet dies on the porch above the harbor
it doesn't say where      there are so many
ones that are somewhat based on
the grounds of blurring      below dinner
would soon be announced    from the sea
from the hills from the sky    day is done
now then   

Death takes you back
passing by your childhood on the way
you simply don't know how you get there

The poet looks out for 
looks out from his last chance


on Mahler's endless adagios. 


It was a fine reading....