special pleading
I confuse Larry Levis &
Larry Rivers, poet for painter,
painter for poet, Frank O'Hara's
one-time lover-patron versus
Phil Levine's addicted acolyte—
Rivers, O'Hara, Levis & Levine,
names swirled like ambulance
chasers or venture capitalists
spending millions of daubs &
words for leveraged buy-outs
of your every thought, men
caught in the chase of dreams
imperfect, arts with arts,
warts & all & flashes of
greatness not genius in
breezy self-assuredness
masking fear of failure &
damned if I'm not enamored
with them all, sign me up
for their counsel, let me
keep them all on call
for when the cops pull me
over, drag me in for loitering
over pages, transgressive
doodling, espousing poems
without a license—I'm guilty
as charged your honor but
I've got good representation
if not good images & yes,
my form needs work but
c'mon man, you don't
know what work it is