"In the Beginning," by Greg Baysans

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In the Beginning

Poem: In the Beginning   
I. Elementary

TV is shit, there is no
laziness, easier than
poetry, I know this isn't
an essay about what little
I know about poetry

exalted language, precise
I don't know about beauty
but truth is necessary
poetry is metaphor, two
things in one revealing
art craft guile manipulation
aesthetically aesthetically

Example:
          A churning sewer
          in every house easier
          to watch than to
          read poetry.

Insert commercial break here.

A rock in a stream in remotest Alaska
knows what I mean.

II. Secondary

In grade school
we made towers
out of toothpicks
and glue. I don't
remember details
but mine was tall
atop a paper plate.
More than building
it, I'm remembering
crushing it with a
heavy book from above.
I create. I destroy.

III. Advanced

The rock in the stream
in remotest Alaska
knows my wrath and ennui.
The song of my demise and desire
is sung to the rhythm the waves
made when that stone
was thrown into the stream
by a falling tree eons ago.

IV. Coda

The rock is removed,
chipped down,
set in metal
attached to a
hand-chosen chain
and worn by
the artisan's
cousin's best friend
to a costume ball
attended by your
parents on the night
of your conception.
The bauble
and the bubble
on this fantasy
burst, and you
are left in
your glory or misery,
unmoved
as it should be.
The rock is imaginary.
The TV is real.
You were never born.
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