READY TO BE DRESSED

The words have to be pounded, then carved,
and there's little need to understand what
exactly you're doing the first time through,

so you can take the word and remove its parts,
skin from muscle, bone from sinew, lung from
ribs, until you have the barest, whitest skeleton of

the thing there in front of you, ready to be dressed
as you see fit, and you can then move from surgeon
to designer: once the elements are understood, they

can then be re-arranged. This is not godlike, but
rather, a tad angelic, for no one can kick words out
of the Garden quite like you, or give them wings.



Artist's note:
Jack Spicer (1925-1965), was an American poet who published several collections during his brief life. Trained as a linguist, Spicer was active in the San Francisco poetry scene during the 50's and 60's. Perhaps today he is most renowned for his theories describing poetry as dictation from a source outside the poet; theories he delivered in a short series of lectures in Vancouver where he portrayed poets as radio receivers. He died at San Francisco General Hospital from alcohol poisoning; his last words were, "My vocabulary did this to me."

§ § §

Ward Kelley has seen more than 1200 of his poems appear in journals world wide. A Pushcart Prize nominee, Kelley's publication credits include such journals as: Another Chicago Magazine, Rattle, Zuzu's Petals, Ginger Hill, Sunstone, Spillway, Pif, Whetstone, 2River View, Melic Review, Thunder Sandwich, The Animist, Offcourse, Potpourri and Skylark.

He was the recipient of the Nassau Review Poetry Award for 2001. Kelley is the author of two paperbacks: "histories of souls," a poetry collection, and "Divine Murder," a novel; he also has an epic poem, "comedy incarnate" on CD and CD ROM.

You can contact him at Ward708@aol.com



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