Absurdity, Allegory and China

The Kingdom from another angle.

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Sunday Night PBO

February 7th, 2010 · No Comments

Sometimes you just need to post a poem.
This one is from Philip Whalen’s Decompressions, Selected Poems, 1969

Hymnus Ad Patrem Sinensis

I praise those ancient Chinamen
Who left me a few words,
Usually a pointless joke or a silly question
A line of poetry drunkenly scrawled on the margin of a quick
splashed picture—bug, leaf,
caricature of Teacher
on paper held together now by little more than ink
& their own strength brushed momentarily over it
Their world & several others since
Gone to hell in a handbasket, they knew it—
Cheered as it whizzed by—
& conked out among the busted spring rain cherryblossom winejars
Happy to have saved us all.
________
Note: PBO = poem by other

Tags: Philip Whalen · poem

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