MICHAEL MCCLURE

I AM WHAT I HAVE

THE NERVE TO BE

HUGE SUCCESS

HIDING IN MEAT.

MAMMAL SHIVERING IN RAIN.

Alarms blast on.

A lion "GRAHHR" and a hummingbird necklace

on an island where creatures tremble

with superstitions and delighted awe,

holding out skull cups

for a fill of Arab blood

And they stand to their knees

in piss flooding their legs,

between war cries.

WHILE

DARKNESS

WAVE-LAPS AGAINST MOTHERS

and children,

and the intelligent microbial

 ocean smiles on

*

 --Soft rain on nasturtiums--

Amidst electronics

                                    ---- Michael McClure

At the age of 22 Michael McClure gave his first poetry reading at the legendary Six Gallery event in San Francisco, where Allen Ginsberg first read Howl. His play The Beard provoked numerous censorship battles, in Los Angeles, the cast was arrested after each performance for fourteen nights in a row. Later The Beard received two Obies in N.Y.C. The play has played a role in U.S. censorship and free speech battles since 1966 when it won the first lawsuit. His many books of poetry include Jaguar Skies, Dark Brown, Huge Dreams, Rebel Lions, Rain Mirror and Plum Stones. His most recent collections are Mysteriosos and other Poems (New Directions) and Of Indigo and Saffron: Selected and New Poems (University of California Press). Michael McClure lives in the San Francisco Bay Area hills with his wife the sculptor Amy Evans McClure.