from
Jack Kimball'
John and the Four Dunn(e)s
I love this: a friend for seconds ....
"John Wieners was a friend for seconds at a time. When I first met him in 1974 I liked him for his sexual as well as poetic glamour. A couple of his teeth were knocked out and his face was worn but it oozed more than enough hauteur to attract closer inspection. He was (and is) the coolest gay poet, that is almost to say, the heaviest rocker-predator who, despite pathologies, could not be obscured...." More atoutdoor rhizome...
Jim still types up a poem of John’s titled ‘Egg Nog,’ but Jim’s not sure it’s even a poem since it’s written on the back of a shopping list, and I had better check with John directly, Jim says. I call John that night, dawn in Japan, and read him back his poem:
The quality of mercy
is not strained
It lieth along the center road
It falleth from the nude sky
as gentle earth rained
over green pastures He maketh
it to abide by Misted Q lanes
whosoever can tell what kiss
brings forward HIS peace
The quality of mercy is not strained
It falleth from the gentle earth like heaven.
In Japan it’s starting to rain as John whispers, ‘This sounds a lot like me. Please use it.’
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