Monday, November 05, 2007

Fix

PURITAN ELEGY

The barnyard a buffet of buggery, two goats,
one mare, some sheep, even a turkey,
its laconic twitch impossible for you,
Thomas Granger, to resist, even when
it meant your death. Hung by the Puritans,
the first in America executed
by the state, you were sixteen, you were
what the Puritans never called
fucked up. Five centuries full of war, plagues,
make it easy, almost, to think
you were up to little more
than hijinks. I want to serve you
steam-riddled bowls of soup,
be mentorly in that obnoxious communal-minded way,
tell you to keep it in
your Pilgrim pants or find
amidst all the doe-eyed girls
one who stoked her own fire. But you’re dead,
hung after the animals
you’d taken were slaughtered
and thrown in a pit, burned to grim satisfaction, buried,
Leviticus 20:15 intoned.
You had to watch this
but see the readied noose
swaying. You had to enter in to history
but not heaven.

8 comments:

Catnapping said...

in texas, buggery is legal, but dildoes will land you in jail.

Nick McRae said...

in georgia, dildoes are legal, but buggery gets you excommunicated.

Name: Matthew Guenette said...

In my house, buggery with a dildo is a rite of passage...

An early "Happy T'Giving" to you too, Mr. Guest.

I love that T. Granger ended up on your radar, but how did he get there?

Stephanie said...

I certainly hope that this wasn't inspired by our visit... :)

Paul said...

No, but I think I mentioned plans to Eliot to make it a poem....;)

Anonymous said...

In Alabama, to buy a dildo you have to sign a form promising the seller you don't intend to use it for sexual purposes.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of all this bestiality, you should check out the documentary "Zoo," which is a singularly beautiful and insane experience. Kind of like "Days of Heaven" meets "The Thin Blue Line." A feast, however, for the eyes...

Anonymous said...

If you're serious about the subject of the post, I'd suggest dropping the final four lines. It's too damning against the people, and you're kind of "telling" Granger what he already knows.

Maybe the piece could end:

and thrown in a pit, burned to grim satisfaction, / buried, Leviticus 20:15 intoned. /
And if a man lie with beast /
Slay the beast

Needs something more, but turning Leviticus onto the hanging's audience could work. I'm thinking McKay and Dickey.