(Draft of) A Knower Too Soon, Part 1

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1. [CLASSICISM]
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Thus the desire to stimulate the pineal gland,
King Midas through a sci-fi vortex.
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In exaltation Semele gave her mortal frame 
& could not bear him gold.
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So we have son, an adulterous lover 
the main dish, was his heart you just ate,
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for WHICH act fratricide and
murder above all other acts
that CULTURE has fallen. 
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(Poor Aeneas, his girlfriend eats too much!)
But Corydon among thick beech shade 
summits lament for faithless Alexis.
And Phaethon, is
 a knower too soon. 
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Rites of the sea, pure by water 
-- and after
  that baptismal dip, we two in
marriage of which Plato speaks.
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(Draft of) A Knower Too Soon, Part 2
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2. [WHITMANIC RETREAT]
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In the happy valley your sex is,
preconscious and, furtive in the bushes.
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You lie in the greensward and, in your writings,
the subtext defines the innocent text.
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Splash of water, this angle of light,
by right the love codes are
"clear beauty", "sweet presence,"
"naked purity" to turn dull poets 
 to little ephebes.
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Valorize the body, including 
its clavicle, stem and root.
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(Draft of) A Knower Too Soon, Part 5.
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5. [BOHEMIAN CLUB, SF]
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Come and dwell with me 
in the city, Samuel.
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As by cristall rivers of Arcadia 
where Barnfield for Daphnis: 
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Our new home shall be 
    stowed with the new 
    and green rushes too
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By these few cues, know me,
of divinity manifested 
wholly in you man. 
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You would hate injustice
have disdain for moneymongers
& revulsion for ooze, ahh..
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But the hounds of love are 
caught in Bay Bridge toll booths. 
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3. [TEUTONIC]
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Blasphemy Odin gave an eye for:
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Reiner orders a glass of water
by the Brandenburg and admires
this image of a snake, serpent
 tattoo binding the wrist of the 
most beautiful man he has ever seen.
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Magnus Hirschfeld said even
Kaiser Wilhelm had such friends
and Isherwood has a camera
for proof in scope.
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Ernst Roehm, the Fuhrer
eats him and the millions.
For this sin, Loki, 
evil twin, wore a dress
to Thor's wedding.
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4.  [THE MODERN]
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Be no more lost half 
of a broken god, shorn
on a deserted interstate.
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Invoke these purple flowers --
hyacinth, narcissus, and as you will,
only be momentous when you recall 
 an origin of men headed
to and from a holocaust.
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 Fly ever closer 
to the sun, with 
waxwings and melt. 
 Fly, yes, then fall,
 then turn somersaults
toward America where Satchmo
sings for you, and nature
is a secondhand fetish.
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5. [THE POSTMODERN]
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Grant Adams, state trooper, knew it.
Vorverstandnis, pre-understanding
Heidegger in a lucid dream.
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FBI lands on Lexington, Kentucky
 investigating a triple murder. 
Grant's badge and gun when he asks
 if i want to touch them.
I say yes and awake with a start,
falling onto greater mastery of
tunnels, bridges, labyrinths.
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Dan White, son and rapist
for WHOM CULTURE falls
puts a slug into my heart.
Then a rainbow colors the sky. 
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6. [STERN GROVE, SF]
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Come and dwell with me 
in the city, Samuel.
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As by cristall rivers of Arcadia 
where Barnfield for Daphnis: 
.
Our new home shall be 
 stowed with the new 
 and green rushes too
.
By these few cues, know me,
and by divinity manifested 
wholly in you man. 
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You would hate injustice
have disdain for moneymongers
& revulsion for ooze, ahh..
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But the hounds of love are 
caught in Bay Bridge toll booths. 
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7. [THE NEW MILLENIUM]
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If I can get your postal address 
I'd like to send you more about it
(more than this e-mail contains) 
and hope you will be able to 
decipher his odd text writing
on these ancient sheets.
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There is only darkness
against which we posit
Vorverstandnis, pre-understanding,
Heidegger in a lucid dream.
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His presence, ethical replete
with thirst for perfectability, 
a power to love (amo ergo sum),
in mystery, power an Earth inspires.
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I say yes and awake with a start,
falling into greater mastery of
tunnels, bridges, labyrinths.
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1 June 1996
James A. Gardner

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