Poems by Larry Levis
Previously unpublished poems by faculty member Larry Levis appear online in Poetry:
Make a Law So That the Spine Remembers Wings
So that the truant boy may go steady with the State,
So that in his spine a memory of wings
Will make his shoulders tense & bend
Like a thing already flown
When the bracelets of another school of love
Are fastened to his wrists,
Make a law that doesn’t have to wait
Long until someone comes along to break it.
…
Twelve Thirty One Nineteen Ninety Nine
First Architect of the jungle & Author of pastel slums,
Patron Saint of rust,
You have become too famous to be read.
…
Ocean Park #17, 1968: Homage to Diebenkorn
What I remember is a carhop on Pico hurrying
Toward a blue Chevy,
A crucifix dangling from its rearview mirror
That jiggled as the driver brushed
A revolver against it, in passing, before tucking it
Behind his back & beginning to joke with her.
…
