tomjanovich. tomjanovich.

alcindor attles gilmore, frazier cowens walker weiss.

                    hondo tomjanovich.

havlicek hayward cunningham wilt-nate zelmo.

wilt-nate bing! wilt-nate bing!

netolicky chet barry dandridge bob.

maravich monroe. maravich monroe.

gervin mcginniss julius george. issel-willis, unseld?

hayes. tomjanovich, tomjanovich - havlicek hayward.

debusschere jojo-bing cowens spencer-reed attles issel.

picture the war
of 1812
being waged
by sailors
wearing pickle
shirts
as helicopters circle
aimlessly overhead,

the way a knee bends back.

2.

the way a knee bends back
before it buckles before
it buckles before the escape
of every afternoon before
every afternoon but the one.

3.

aimlessly an oiler overhead.

4.

picture the aimlessly overhead.
the confusions in concert
w/the deniably wrong.

bottlenecks & a perpetual
rewrite aboard
the escalante again & gone in

the larceny of socks & synapse.

5.

i’m one hundred & eighty-four
pounds of solid liver
on the moon.

e-s-c-a-l-a-n-t-e

escalante

aboard the way a knee bent back.

it’s a chicken song, & i have a problem believing that i’m
his boss, that i’m anyone’s boss, me, a poet. what manner
of planet is this, where a poet can be a boss? phil’s song

has entered a dangerous phase, somehow he’s got to sell
the fact that, not only is he a chicken, but he’s also able
to pilot a biplane, & served w/distinction in the crimean

war. it’s a stretch, i tell him, & he nods—he has doubts
about my doubts, i’m thinking he’s done this before, has
chicken songs in his blood, phil nods, then wails the bridge.