Tuesday, October 1, 2013

"They that have power to hurt and will do none"

by Erik Noonan



where “world” means “people” life sometimes feels
like an absurd conceit reified
in brittle trinkets that not only don’t
correlate too objectively with an emotion
one can recognize as real
but also seem designed to flaunt self-love
before all save those few who are in
meantime Thomas Jefferson’s natural aristocracy
(enlightenment wet dream if ever there was one)
carries the burden of defense today
as in Shakespeare’s times nature or God
lent out sums of excellence at interest
on one hand and immolated Cook on the other
coldly pure rank non-artistic lilywhite


 
Biography:
Erik Noonan is an LA native; he attended Hampshire College and the New College of California. His poems, stories and critical prose have come out in print and online magazines, as well as the collections Stances (2012, Bird & Beckett) and Haiku d'Etat (2013, Omerta); a third book is forthcoming this year from Thaddeus George Press. He's presently revising a study of Paul Blackburn. He and his wife Mireille live in San Francisco.

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