Great Expectations

by Kathy Acker

"Terence told my fortune--whatever that means--but a fairly, it seems to me, precise psychic map of the present, therefore: the future.
I asked the cards about future boyfriends. This question involved the following thoughts: Would the guy who fucked me so well in France be in love wit me? Will I have a new boyfriend? As Terence told me to do, I cut the cards into four piles: earth water fire air. We found my significator, April 18th, in the water or emotion fantasy pile. The first image was a fat purring human cat surrounded by the Empress and the Queen of Pentacles. This cluster, traveling through a series of other clusters that, like mirrors, kept defining or explained the first cluster more clearly--time is an almost recurring conical--led to the final unconscious image: during Christmas the whole is rejecting a male and a female kid who are scum by birth. To the right of the scum is the Star. To the left is the card of that craftsmanship which due to hard work succeeds."

Lack

fittingly the mastectomy
walloped her sideways

Semantics

For the record
my palpating (palpitating) breast
we call it dewy
heaving bosoms only sometimes

Everyone Loves a Straight Girl

friday fuck-face
weather beaten clamshell
sand in (send in) your oyster
I got pearls up in mine

I've got egg all over my face, don't I?

Going back to Woody Allen, specifically Annie Hall, I'd just say that the two key jokes in Alvie Singer's life really are apt metaphors. I think both were attributed to Graucho Marx (forgive me if I butcher them):

a) I'd never want to be part of a club that would have me as a member.

b) A guy goes to a doctor and tells the doctor, "Doc, I've got a big problem. My brother thinks he's a chicken."
The doctor says, "Why don't you have him committed?" and the guy says, "Well, we need the eggs."

Further, or more importantly in my case, is Woody Allen's follow up to the second joke which is, and I'm profoundly paraphrasing, that romantic relationships are painful, confusing, distracting and generally insane but we do it because we need the eggs.

Yep. Extend that metaphor however you like and definitely apply it like machine gun fire or confetti to most of life and it works pretty well. I find that both jokes apply especially well to poetry and poetic communities. The romantic thing, yes, clearly.

In the meantime, I'm going to go watch a group of psychoanalysts psychoanalyze a poet of the poet's own free will at the San Francisco Psychoanalytic institute in a couple of hours. Then I'll go over to Oakland and sit in the audience while we collectively, but silently psychoanalyze the poets reading there.

Where it's at

Titty Poem 2

two tight titties
and a mouth that moans

Pain in the 3rd and 7th Vertebrae, specifically

Once again, Google Image Search turns up gold. I typed in "pain" and found this:

Now, I'm not sure what is going on in this picture but it looks to me like this fellow, who may be some sort of racecar driver, motorcyclist, welder, or astronaut as the sweet but sort of unnecessary old school helmet would lead us to believe, is suffering from a headache located behind the eyes and spreading backwards, though the pain probably stems from the tension in the left side of his neck and shoulder specifically caused by problems in the 3rd and 7th vertebrae. That's what happens when you spend your days trying to break the sound barrier, dude. Loosen up, have a beer, smoke a doob. Thank you Google for dishing up so handsomely.

Titties for...

Titty Poem 1

Wow I mean wow
really great stuff here
and thanks for bringing it to my attention

Mouth Feel

Also:

Sight of blue

French

German

French "r"

German "r"

French pronunciation of "secret"

"luxe, calme et volupté"

Sight of clavicle concavity

Sight of pale yellow paint

Flavors Feel Good

*Favorite Flavors*

taste of a kiss after someone has drunk Mexican beer and smoked a cigarette--almost like pear

root beer--and also the base of a pansy flower--same flavor

very new bright green pine needles--specifically douglas fir

double short americano with cream and a bit of sugar

beef cooked with onions

salmon nigiri with a bit of lemon and green onion

bright ripe peach

*********************

*Favorite Mouth Feels*

pudding

ripe peach

salmon nigiri

rubber spatula (bitten)

smoking?

steak off the bone

french kissing

fingers (bitten)

* I was a big thumb sucker as a child
* As you can see this list closely resembles the list of favorite flavors. It may be safe to assume that I am a sub-taster as the role that texture plays in my enjoyment of my favorite foods seems to be equally if not more important.
*I just returned from my first wine tasting excursion to Sonoma County. The list above still stands though I did enjoy the wines very much, still no favorites.
*I may be what is called a Sensualist, though I don't yet have a full understanding of what that means. Can one be a Sensualist in life but escape that label in their writing? Is there any point in making that kind of distinction?

Some things

Hi guys,

I don't know why my list of "Fun Fun and Useful" disappeared but it appears to be gone. Please don't feel booted if your fun or useful was on it. I'll build it back up again, it may take a bit though, all that linking to do.

In the meantime, enjoy the fireworks. I'll be enjoying the fog and a 77 mm print of Brain Storm at the Castro Theater. (See fig.1)

fig.1