Kenneth Patchen

In the footsteps of the walking
Sky's prophetic chickens weave their cloth of
And hillsides lift green wings in somber journeying
Night in his soft haste bumps on the shoulders of the

Be music, night,
That her sleep may go Where angels have their pale tall choirs Be a hand, sea,
That her dreams may watch Thy guidesman touching the green flesh of the world Be a voice, sky,
That her beauties may be counted And the ...

Let us have madness openly
O men Of my generation
Let us follow The footsteps of this slaughtered age: See it trail across Time's dim land Into the closed house of eternity With the noise that dying has, With the face that dead things we...

To leave the earth was my wish, and no will stayed my rising
Early, before sun had filled the roads with
Conveying folk to weddings and to murders;
Before men left their selves of sleep, to

Tiny green birds skate over the surface of the room
A naked girl prepares a basin with steaming water,
And in the corner away from the hearth, the red
Of an up-ended chariot slowly turn

And all that is this day


The boy with cap slung over what had been a face

I believe that a young
Is standing in a circle of
In the other side of the sky
In a little while I must carry her the

A beast stands at my eye
I cook my senses in a dark fire
The old wombs rot and the new
Approaches with the footsteps of a world

The old guy put down his beer
Son, he said,      (and a girl came over to the table where we were:      asked us by Jack Christ to buy her a drink
)  Son,
I am going to tell you something  The like of which nobody was ever told

The deer is humble, lovely as God made her I watch her eyes and think of wonder owned These strange priests enter the cathedral of woods And seven Marys clean their hands to woo her Foot lifted, dagger-sharp—her ears Poised to their points like a ...

Apply for the position (I've forgotten now for what) I had to marry the Second Mayor's daughter by twelve noon
The order arrived three minutes of
I already had a wife; the Second Mayor was childless: but I did it
Next they told me t...

That should be
Of course it
Any fool knows that
Even in the winter