Tag: John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper poems

Poetry

Ophelia’s Ventriloquy by John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper

What had she wanted, unknowable—within those lips, be heard, could have occurredshe did even know? Such power, possessed,dispossesses had she wit, the words, words, words,pure spontaneity of ignorancespoken at last out loud, to say if not whothen that vitality unspecified,entire life pursued, continually deceived,egregiously misled, disappointed—although promised, never on Earth fulfilled. This agony curtailed, herself set freefrom assumption, false alternative buried:like Ophelia, submerged beneath the … Continue reading Ophelia’s Ventriloquy by John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper

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Poetry

After the Shrink (Succession) by John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper

I’m always wandering afterward,the crisis of my face in close examination.What to say, what I said, what I might:my romantic confusion—where to go from here,where I have been.Now to turn and simply go on home,more unsure than then,whenever that was,how—and why— Some cry returnsI can never entirely retainor restrain,a wanting not to wont,a fitting for the frame,a reason not to blame. Continue reading After the Shrink (Succession) by John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper

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Poetry

Again by John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper

Another fucking breakdown,smoking again… Heavy with my useless head,which cannot bear to think. Everything is bro-ken, the glass on my phone is cracked like my head.The door comes off the kitchen cabinet, asdoes every last second of my thought. If on-ly the words would loose and meaning come, I’d beable to live inside my body, be atease with my life. But my mind is blank, … Continue reading Again by John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper

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Poetry

Hunger by John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper

I know now that watching you eatwas what I once loved about my mother: the necessityof it, the intensity of it, the unacknowledged pleasure—everything that made reality human. So much in life, my tenderexperience, places things in doubt, and here was proof,above all sciences, that to be, to exist, was hunger, and could be satisfied.Beauty was to perceive, to see that whatever else truth might … Continue reading Hunger by John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper

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Poetry

Why I Am Not A Scientist by John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper

It’s what I’m for,and everything else against;  interwoven along the cosmic fence,sovereign principle in action:  what is shall always remain,although invisible.  I can see —but feeling believe I know.  Love bears the whole through a universeeveryone bleeds.  What is must remain,even though unrepeatable:  only world, only soul;only heart ever possible to acquire  or acquaint—statement of the obvious,tipped toward the point of oblivion,  which every science … Continue reading Why I Am Not A Scientist by John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper

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Poetry

The Needle in the Haystack by John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper

You love the small streets,the quiet precincts; the lighted windowup on the corner where a tree this past–Christmas still sparkles, all the world madeheavenly by a cup of lemon tea,simplicity and nourishmentof mere life, the bed at dawn, the waiting home —even one alone, bare minimum, sometime,maximum can be. Continue reading The Needle in the Haystack by John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper

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Poetry

June Burial by John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper

The ides of giugno find me reading— of all things—Robert Lowell.The day is quite beautifuland cool (this pencil much too dark).Slept well. Refreshed. Therefrigerator is at last defrosted.I don’t know whatmoved me to remove Robert L.from the shelf—I won’t quibble.I’ve made my peacewith his equivocal hell.His sad tale strikes me nowas having been not spiritually diseasedbut tragically corporeal.A hulking man whose heart in a bowlhad overbrimmed … Continue reading June Burial by John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper

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Poetry

Dared Eagle by John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper

For the New Year I steel anger     from the gods,          fetch itto anneal with scorn, contrive thunder     to punish,          rain ignore,exchange fury flake by flake     snowbound burn intemperate fire     from the cold at heart. Abhorrent holiday     when festivity       omits its cause,          breaks tradition like stale bread     promises, toys,          possessions,precious gifts to retain in mind and hand —         all let go … finding death last question     birth first answer. Unweaned from most-     alien, human-          seemingrelation,    excepting … Continue reading Dared Eagle by John Jack Jackie (Edward) Cooper

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