Poetic Exercise On The Subject Of Disgruntlement - Kenneth Burke
In the offing: "Holy, holy—
Anoint and sanctify."
About the edges:
"Pray, beseech, give alms, atone by suffering,
Penance and repentance.
"My fault,
My gravest fault,
My most momentous, impious, sinful moment."
Seek absolution
In the Absolute.
Aristotle: "There is cause for alarm
If either injustice or outrage virtue
Has power."
Vengeance, retribution,
Imprecation, malediction—
"Lament, lament,
But may the good conquer."
Guilt through the doing of forbidden things,
Guilt by forbearing to do forbidden things—
And hope by grief to rid the self of grievances.
Estrangement, defilement, sacrifice,
Filth, evil,
Each idiot, with his special idiom.
I knew a man, well-heeled in sadness,
And you would be surprised.
A stinkeroo he was, and as a guide
Exceptionally dirty, a pestilence
In his offensiveness.
Victim, martyr, guilt, wereguilt,
Debt, redemption (that is, ransom from captivity),
Blood-feud, blood-guilt, sin-offering, blood-offering.
By "sin-eater" is meant "a man who (according to a
former practice in England)
For a small gratuity ate a piece of bread
laid on the chest of a dead person,
To take the sins of that dead person upon himself."
Brutus: "We shall be called purgers, not murderers"
Purification through the word, that casts out demons;
Purification by cleaning, by things ritually clean;
Purification by sacrifice, scapegoat:
"Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sins."
Let them be saved in celibacy, virginity, abstention;
Let them be washed with gomez, the urine of the sacred cow.
Suffering from a vile disease,
He hoped to cure himself by giving it to others.
* * *
In general, a god preferred male victims;
A goddess, female,
"It was the custom at Athens
To reserve certain worthless persons,
Who in time of plague, famine, or like
visitations from heaven,
Were thrown into the sea, with fitting incantations,
That the people might be purged of their pollution."
Above off-scourings (the refuse of a sacrifice)
There arose those Great Persecutional Words:
Justice, Right, Necessity, Reverence, and Fate.
O that was a most fertile Indo-European root
From which sprang crime, crisis, criticism, discrimination,
Sincere, and excrement.
Brunetière on drama:
"Struggle against fate, against the social order,
against someone of like nature,
Against oneself under duress,
Against a background of ambitions,
interests, prejudices, stupidity or
Malice"
Still, says Racine,
"It is not necessary that there be blood and death in tragedy.
It is enough if the action have magnitude,
If the agents are heroic,
If the passions are aroused,
And if the whole is suffused
With that majestic sorrow
Which constitutes the tragic pleasure."
Classical dictionary:
"The performance of a tragedy
was generally made the occasion
for a great display
of spoils
of war."
And right out of Pierre Corneille (1608-1684)
I shouted key terms in Middle-Western French:
gloire honneur royaume pouvoir devoir
admiration honneur justice couronne honneur
puissance courage triomphe autoritè honneur
great deeds noble rage just punishment
large-minded conquest submission
quotes: "and in pitying my sorrow, admire my virtue."
Fires of torment in Hell
Purgatorial fires
Fires of lust
Fires of love
Protective rings of fire
Fire ultimate.
* * *
O Spirit of Tolerance, frailly crooked-smiling,
O loveliness,
Would I might be to Thee
What all were on the verge...
I would slough off
My slough.
We ask what time—
And common sense might say:
It's between five-thirty and fifteen minutes to six.
But poetry might say:
Between fight thwarted and fighting
Moans to sick.
We ask where to—
And common sense might say:
Straight down that road and turn right.
But poetry might say:
Straight to the right
Until you come
To L—L—E—Aitch
Spelled backwards.
Then turn inside upside down and out—
And you vermine,
I mean you depraved image of God,
You're
Home...
Poetry is an old wound
Again breaks open.
Poetry jams your face
Hard against the past.
(Spirit of Tolerance, frailly crooked-smiling,
Song is sweet
And filth is power—
And I love you.)
* * *
The fellow said
"Here is a-rope-
You-might-need-some-time."
He said,
"Here is an excellent poison,
it could come in handy."
He said,
"This is fool-proof, sure-fire,
THE END."
And I thanked him,
His clockface staring at me
Like the windows of someone else's house.
Even his jokes were grisly.
"Avoid alphabet soup," he said,
"Or think of all the dirty words
You'll swallow."
He said,
"Love if you can.
If not love, cry if you can.
If not cry,
Kill if you can."
A time of bated breath,
Apocalypse, and rabies-
Power over universal life and death
Now in the hands of babies.
(Power loose in feeble fists)
* * *
LITANY OF LAMENTS
Frankilee, O frankilee,
Mankind is a-thrist for new-things
Statistically predictable.
Frankilee, O frankilee,
the times are like a swamp
Frantic with mosquitoes.
The presses clack of calamity
Like a colloquy of crows.
I knew a woman as coldly designing
As a spideress or former poetess.
I heard of Beauty
That fell like a thud of brick.
I knew an one as cold in her designs
As spideress or sour ex-poetess.
Frankilee, O frankilee,
How can you, having but one back,
Be backed against so many walls?
The single problem:
War and peace.
Not peace by devastation,
Not peace by enslavement,
Not peace by tax-collecting
Of imperial pacification,
Not peace that rots—
But peace,
Somehow.
Frankilee, O frankilee,
Frankilee, O frankilee,
There is a gorgeous canyon
Lifts up it's naked gash
Towards a rainstorm fresh descending.
* * *
Spirit of Tolerance, frailly crooked-smiling,
Heal us with old age,
Comfort us with sorrow.
Meet me at the secret meeting place
Hid among the traffic.
Meet me near the lions
By the big library.
I have gray hair
Blue eyes
Glasses
And a mole under my right armpit.
They call me "Misery"
Because I love company.
[From:
Burke, K. (1968) Collected Poems, 1915-1967. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, p253 - p262]
Anoint and sanctify."
About the edges:
"Pray, beseech, give alms, atone by suffering,
Penance and repentance.
"My fault,
My gravest fault,
My most momentous, impious, sinful moment."
Seek absolution
In the Absolute.
Aristotle: "There is cause for alarm
If either injustice or outrage virtue
Has power."
* * *
Vengeance, retribution,
Imprecation, malediction—
"Lament, lament,
But may the good conquer."
Guilt through the doing of forbidden things,
Guilt by forbearing to do forbidden things—
And hope by grief to rid the self of grievances.
Estrangement, defilement, sacrifice,
Filth, evil,
Each idiot, with his special idiom.
I knew a man, well-heeled in sadness,
And you would be surprised.
A stinkeroo he was, and as a guide
Exceptionally dirty, a pestilence
In his offensiveness.
Victim, martyr, guilt, wereguilt,
Debt, redemption (that is, ransom from captivity),
Blood-feud, blood-guilt, sin-offering, blood-offering.
By "sin-eater" is meant "a man who (according to a
former practice in England)
For a small gratuity ate a piece of bread
laid on the chest of a dead person,
To take the sins of that dead person upon himself."
Brutus: "We shall be called purgers, not murderers"
Purification through the word, that casts out demons;
Purification by cleaning, by things ritually clean;
Purification by sacrifice, scapegoat:
"Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sins."
Let them be saved in celibacy, virginity, abstention;
Let them be washed with gomez, the urine of the sacred cow.
Suffering from a vile disease,
He hoped to cure himself by giving it to others.
* * *
In general, a god preferred male victims;
A goddess, female,
"It was the custom at Athens
To reserve certain worthless persons,
Who in time of plague, famine, or like
visitations from heaven,
Were thrown into the sea, with fitting incantations,
That the people might be purged of their pollution."
Above off-scourings (the refuse of a sacrifice)
There arose those Great Persecutional Words:
Justice, Right, Necessity, Reverence, and Fate.
O that was a most fertile Indo-European root
From which sprang crime, crisis, criticism, discrimination,
Sincere, and excrement.
Brunetière on drama:
"Struggle against fate, against the social order,
against someone of like nature,
Against oneself under duress,
Against a background of ambitions,
interests, prejudices, stupidity or
Malice"
Still, says Racine,
"It is not necessary that there be blood and death in tragedy.
It is enough if the action have magnitude,
If the agents are heroic,
If the passions are aroused,
And if the whole is suffused
With that majestic sorrow
Which constitutes the tragic pleasure."
Classical dictionary:
"The performance of a tragedy
was generally made the occasion
for a great display
of spoils
of war."
And right out of Pierre Corneille (1608-1684)
I shouted key terms in Middle-Western French:
gloire honneur royaume pouvoir devoir
admiration honneur justice couronne honneur
puissance courage triomphe autoritè honneur
great deeds noble rage just punishment
large-minded conquest submission
quotes: "and in pitying my sorrow, admire my virtue."
Fires of torment in Hell
Purgatorial fires
Fires of lust
Fires of love
Protective rings of fire
Fire ultimate.
* * *
O Spirit of Tolerance, frailly crooked-smiling,
O loveliness,
Would I might be to Thee
What all were on the verge...
I would slough off
My slough.
We ask what time—
And common sense might say:
It's between five-thirty and fifteen minutes to six.
But poetry might say:
Between fight thwarted and fighting
Moans to sick.
We ask where to—
And common sense might say:
Straight down that road and turn right.
But poetry might say:
Straight to the right
Until you come
To L—L—E—Aitch
Spelled backwards.
Then turn inside upside down and out—
And you vermine,
I mean you depraved image of God,
You're
Home...
Poetry is an old wound
Again breaks open.
Poetry jams your face
Hard against the past.
(Spirit of Tolerance, frailly crooked-smiling,
Song is sweet
And filth is power—
And I love you.)
* * *
The fellow said
"Here is a-rope-
You-might-need-some-time."
He said,
"Here is an excellent poison,
it could come in handy."
He said,
"This is fool-proof, sure-fire,
THE END."
And I thanked him,
His clockface staring at me
Like the windows of someone else's house.
Even his jokes were grisly.
"Avoid alphabet soup," he said,
"Or think of all the dirty words
You'll swallow."
He said,
"Love if you can.
If not love, cry if you can.
If not cry,
Kill if you can."
A time of bated breath,
Apocalypse, and rabies-
Power over universal life and death
Now in the hands of babies.
(Power loose in feeble fists)
* * *
LITANY OF LAMENTS
Frankilee, O frankilee,
Mankind is a-thrist for new-things
Statistically predictable.
Frankilee, O frankilee,
the times are like a swamp
Frantic with mosquitoes.
The presses clack of calamity
Like a colloquy of crows.
I knew a woman as coldly designing
As a spideress or former poetess.
I heard of Beauty
That fell like a thud of brick.
I knew an one as cold in her designs
As spideress or sour ex-poetess.
Frankilee, O frankilee,
How can you, having but one back,
Be backed against so many walls?
The single problem:
War and peace.
Not peace by devastation,
Not peace by enslavement,
Not peace by tax-collecting
Of imperial pacification,
Not peace that rots—
But peace,
Somehow.
Frankilee, O frankilee,
Frankilee, O frankilee,
There is a gorgeous canyon
Lifts up it's naked gash
Towards a rainstorm fresh descending.
* * *
Spirit of Tolerance, frailly crooked-smiling,
Heal us with old age,
Comfort us with sorrow.
Meet me at the secret meeting place
Hid among the traffic.
Meet me near the lions
By the big library.
I have gray hair
Blue eyes
Glasses
And a mole under my right armpit.
They call me "Misery"
Because I love company.
[From:
Burke, K. (1968) Collected Poems, 1915-1967. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, p253 - p262]
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