THE HOLLYWOOD RAGE PAGE

Are the frozen people In my family photo album like the one snapped by my Uncle Raymond during the war, of a freshly immolated Japanese soldier barbecued by the business-end of a flame-thrower in some south pacific island trench which appears right next to a picture of me blowing out my 4 th birthday cake candles and another of my bare-chested dad flipping burgers at the beach. Which,  perhaps subconsciously, created a theme featuring all the different fires that sooner or later had to be put out. My feelings are every single Girl and woman who I have ever loved And still do The one that I did the Mexican Hat Dance with While sporting a wind taunting paper sombrero on Cinco De Mayo The one who accepted my i.d. bracelet at The World’s Fair And flaunted it like it was an engagement ring, The one whose bra I unhooked Like I was defusing an Iraqi road bomb Until her boob finally sprung free and wiggled Like a Jello mold on a

Ever since the days of  Perfectly fitted waistcoats silk top hats And the dangled kid glove When spring made its entrance As rowdy as a saloon  It became open season For desire. Inhibitions were lifted Like a Crazy Horse skirt And for the pocket empty artist, His swivel-eyed lust Carried him by ragged foot  to The impossible distance of color spattered fields, where  armed with the seeds of paint, He tried to figure out The secret code of flowers Which had spoken to him In the confidence of God since he was a child. With the genuflection of  The Hog’s bristle And the consecration Of the palette knife The flowers were born  out of creation Becoming more and more human With each and every stroke The way Klimt’s sunflowers Formed a soul Kusama made her blossoms Quiver with the hallucinations Of childhood And Van Gough’s violet irises Wept with madness From the asylum of Saint-Remy-de-Provence. And n

My mom was a  clever girl with a tortured soul which she wore like a winter coat buttoned to the neck to keep out the marrow chilled wind  even on the 4th of July. Her life was  rearranged  by tragedy when on a post bath Brooklyn night in 1931 instead of following instructions  to keep a big sister eye on her forever scurrying  baby brother the tow-haired Harry,  she succumbed to the  hypnotic pull of motherhood  and tended to her doll with its go-to-sleep eyes and double  ruffled ribbon tied organdy bonnet, as Harry in an effort to kiss the cheek of the beckoning moon secretly made his way to the launching pad of the window seat pressed his lips against the mesh of the screen and fell to his concrete death  while Wayne King and His Orchestra  played Goodnight Sweetheart on the Philco Highboy From that moment on my mom believed that  the family had secretly convened and convicted her of murder And yet as life hobbled on It didn’t stop her From buying  Kid gloves

I’ve lost a few things Along the way. The sound of my dad When he laughed  At Crazy Guggenheim And cried at his Suddenly sane and mournful Crooning, From the perch of his after hours  Soft as putty chair Which wore a tropical skirt Come summer As a floor fan hummed Like a monastery  And a block away railroad train Tumbled by  like the night time surf And Hans The neighborhood  Love struck dog Howled at the moon And I've lost The scent of my mom Who rehearsed her mournful day dreams Behind the sentry of a locked door As she misted herself  With atomizers Which sat like royalty  On the court of a bedroom tray In the heart of Queens While the shiny knights of lipsticks Protected the round table. And I've lost The grumbling of my sister Who shared a wall divided room with me Way past the  Expiration date of propriety Whose hormones attacked her like incoming Kamikazes  Which left her floating 

Before you think of what You’ve learned And sing your favorite tune Do not forget The silent sea on the tranquil side of the moon Where bodies sewn in sailcloth Float in outer space Until they turn to dust and ash And vanish With no trace. But down on earth Where they first cried Their footprints are still fresh Which children will still follow In search of their own flesh Their voices will be memorized Their scent will be exhumed And photographs will speak to us And hearts will be illumed Before you romp on beaches And announce your life brand new Remember all the sacrifice And those who coded blue And the torture of their final breaths Inside the ICU Before you hit the barrooms   And only think of you Remember everyone we lost Who’d love a kiss  or two Right now they are numbers Stats without a face But tell that to their families Who set an empty place Before you harm the earth again And che

Bodies, That we used to  spoon with On chilled marrow nights Sheltered beneath the balmy gust Of a downy duvet Whose cheeks we lip surfed On birthdays And on Christmas mornings When we stood in the ankle deep Euphoria of madly shredded gift wrap Like a pair of parade floats in a sea Of just landed confetti Are Suddenly Gone Erased Like the ghosts of  The Holocaust  Who left behind An inheritance of sad-eyed Photographs Of haunted prey And an heirloom Like a musical sonnerie With a solid gold dial That played Carillon From Bizet’s L’Arlesienne Whose three-note figure Conveyed the peal of Funeral bells Which our dead Our beloved Never got to hear That was inscribed with the words “Our hands will always meet At midnight.”