Jack Spicer

Harry Redl

 A Poem For Dada Day At The Place April 1, 1958

I 

The bartender 

Has eyes the color of ripe apricots 

Easy to please as a cash register he 

Enjoys art and good jokes. 

Squish 

Goes the painting 

Squirt 

Goes the poem 

He 

We 

Laugh. 

II 

It is not easy to remember that other people died 

          besides Dylan Thomas and Charlie Parker 

Died looking for beauty in the world of the 

          bartender 

This person, that person, this person, that person 

          died looking for beauty 

Even the bartender died 

III  

Dante blew his nose 

And his nose came off in his hand 

Rimbaud broke his throat 

Trying to cough 

Dada is not funny 

It is a serious assault 

On art 

Because art 

Can be enjoyed by the bartender. 

IV 

The bartender is not the United States 

Or the intellectual 

Or the bartender 

He is every bastard that does not cry 

When he reads this poem.