THE BARBARIAN FROM THE NORTH
POEMS BY STUART Z PERKOFF
Selected Work by Venice Poets

for Allen Ginsberg

blind as roses
we sit in the evenings in rooms of our own choosing
rooms filled with intricacies of many delicately structured parts
which dazzle & fascinate, & alter appearances & statements

everything with its clear limits
everything marked & classified
all aspects known
all new structures viewed with distaste
everything of the utmost seriousness

what are we to say, then, of a man
who takes off his clothes in someone else's living room?
are we to applaud?
what is his nakedness to us?
what do we care about his poems?
do you realize he is in the lite? how can i
be expected to read?

he makes too much noise!
he says dirty words!
he needs a bath!
he is certainly
drunk!

i hope he soon realizes that it is, after all
now
& we have many wonderful things to amuse us
when we want to see clowns
we go to the circus

is he gone yet? can i come out
now?

Stuart Z. Perkoff