POEM: Gerry & Lenny (4)
Posted 25 February, 2010 in Audio Poems, My poems, Poetry
Listen to the poem by pressing the play button above.
Gerry & Lenny
have the same vocal tic
an explosion of air from the nose
with the tongue in the back of the throat
each time it sounds like laughter,
a commentary on their own speech
then back or not back to the matter at hand
“I’m waiting for a Jew to turn Catholic!
Can you imagine a Jew submitting
to the goddamned pope? Jesus Christ!”
Like Lenny, Gerry stops in the middle –
in mitn drinen, they would say –
to tell stories and to follow tangents
Like Gerry, Lenny draws water from
a desert oasis and pours that water
into molds of his own design
“The Catholic Church has given the pope
permission to become a nun.
Just on Fridays, though.”
Gerry was born in Pittsburgh:
grew up with bituminous in his mouth,
ate the ash-gray snow
Lenny was born in Mineola:
within weeks, Sally was back on stage
and Lenny drifted from house to house
Gerry has been a poet laureate
and has won awards and prizes
and taught at prestigious universities
Lenny died on the bathroom floor,
syringe near his arm,
camera lens in his face
4 comments to “POEM: Gerry & Lenny”
DON LEVY, February 25th, 2010 at 6:21 pm:
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Love this poem! I would have never made the connection with the two of them. Sheer brillance!
Jason Crane, February 25th, 2010 at 6:46 pm:
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Thanks so much, Don!
Dan Wilcox, February 25th, 2010 at 10:18 pm:
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… & the FBI looking over his shoulder…
Jason Crane, February 25th, 2010 at 10:26 pm:
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Too true. If I had to make a list of heroes, Lenny would be at the top. Even over Trane and alongside my grandfather. Ever since I first heard him at a college radio station in 1991, I’ve been, um, obsessed.
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Jason Crane is the host of the The Jazz Session, the online jazz interview show. His first collection of poems, Unexpected Sunlight (FootHills Publishing, 2010) is now available.
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