Three Poems

by
Andy Clausen and Bo Baba

A Million to One

I felt the fire
with no heat or burn
I endured the unmanifested wound
no doctor could diagnose
no healing teacher
no priest had a clue

Sleep would not arrive
a smile would have
shattered my face
a simple pleasure
would have frozen
my heart with fear

The trek was long
the time was short
Now I had arrived
back in the arms
where the trip began
Breath Inside The Breath
against all odds I have learned
to recognize You

God Vacana

The stove is a god
electricity is god
The air-conditioner is a god
a rock in the middle of the road
is god
when it looks like an elephant
or a dick
A bump on a log is god
the atom bomb also god
A megaton is god
a microgram god
The feminine principle god
beauty wealth health
elusive gods who ambush
The automatic coffee maker is a god
the refrigerator
the ten billion grass blades
of the front lawn, everyone a god

Gods gods gods godz they’re everywhere
there’s no place to walk
One can’t move without sacrilege
one can’t talk without blaspheming

There’s only one god
It is Substance, It is Entirely Nature
It is You My Wife and Lover
Your sound is your name
I hear you in the smallest move of time
O Breath Inside The Breath

Poor Man’s Vacana

The rich will give fabulous
(to one such as I)
amounts of wealth & credit
to many noble & lofty causes
What can
a poor man
offer?
The rich will build
temples libraries museums
universities cathedrals
bridges
If you ask for my labor
please know
it’s all I have to sell
My legs are trucks
of cement and brick
steel and glass
My torso is a field
where the produce
feeding the world
lives dies lives
My head is the tower
where the histories
the books the knowledge
of all humans reside
My heart pumps the deepest notes
of all true love songs
All that is standing permanent
will fall
All that is moving temporary
will always be here
Yes, Breath Inside The Breath

Andy Clausen is a coeditor of Poems for the Nation (Seven Stories Press), a collection of contemporary political poems compiled by the late poet Allen Ginsberg. Clausen is the author of nine books of poetry, including 40th Century Man: Selected Verse 1996-1966 (Autonomedia), and Without Doubt (Zeitgeist Press).

Bo Baba is a mystic poet who scoffs at mysticism.

For information about the new book by Andy Clausen and Bo Baba, Songs of Bo Baba, write to:

Shivastan Publishing
54E Tinker St.
Woodstock, NY 12498