André Breton’s Apartment

By Garrett Caples Garrett Caples

the madder runs

like blood

lifeblood of

the livebud

that kindles next to earth

the hair on the church is water

the lovebirds curve their crutches down

so long

to the sacred

palaces

so long to the fingerbone that lingers on

if i’m alive

it’s no thanks to you

if i’m comatose

let’s make the most of it

tomato ghost

rude twilight

ruby tear

discipline disappears

between the shapeless necklace

and the cloudy robe of shrapnel

in the absence

of incense

no balm can grease

the throbbing temples

of the rotting world

Source: Complications (Meritage Press, 2007)

Biography

Garrett Caples is the author of The Garrett Caples Reader (1999), Complications (2007), and Quintessence of the Minor: Symbolist Poetry in English (2010). He's an editor at City Lights Books, where he curates the Spotlight poetry series and has worked on such books as Tau by Philip Lamantia/Journey to the End by John Hoffman (Pocket Poets #59) and When I Was a Poet by David Meltzer (Pocket Poets #60). He's also a contributing . . .

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