If you ever call, there is always
this: the grumble or tremble in
your voice is mine. I have gone
out to something, am not available
now. As a rule, I am never home.
I do the goose dance, i do the
state of the art. This is my
answer then, my message. Listen:
the hill is full of rocks
the wood is green with beasts
Goat watches the sky bruise
with approaching day. He is old,
he can hardly walk. One day
Troll lifts him, carries him
to the city and drops him in
the middle of Broadway. Traffic
stops for miles. Goat is constantly
mumbling something. Someone in a car
gets out and shoots him. Goat is dead.
Goat is never dead.
from GOAT lies down on Broadway. For more info see here.
On the train, Goat sits
on Chicken Little. At first
he is unaware, but then Troll
ties up its beak with masking
tape. The sky stops falling.
Goat decides never to speak
again.
Goat scares the conductor
with his bloody teeth.
It’s only chicken blood, says Troll.
from GOAT lies down on Broadway. For more info see here. Lino-block art by Tom Williams.Troll tells Goat that the sky
is scheduled to fall today:
he read it in the Post.
It starts: Goat kicks back clouds
while Troll keeps the blue above
by force of sheer ugliness.
All over, people carry umbrellas.
They think it is only raining.
When they can do no more, they find
a subway entrance, catch a train.
from GOAT lies down on Broadway. For more info see here.
Goat sees Troll at MOMA.
They eat the contents
of the room they are in,
then head for the library.
Later, they break up a
softball game: Troll eats
third base, Goat kicks
the umpire out of the game,
offers to sub, having read
the rules. “It’s only reasonable,”
he reminds Troll.
Goat hears that she is doing well.
He goes to the field at night,
luminous, and picks roots and
vegetables.
He leaves them by the shepherd
boy’s door. He knows what to do
with them.
Goat receives a thank you note.
He almost dies.
from GOAT lies down on Broadway. For more info see here.
Maureen is stung by a bee
heading to her wading pool
in her backyard. Her dad
locates the hive in a nearby
bush.
He tries a spray but
the bees buzz about, so
everyone goes inside. Next
morning, the hive is trampled,
the bush uprooted, the yard
full of rocks.
The year is 2540.
Archaeologists dig up
an ancient tar pit.
They find a sign
that says, “TOYS R US.”
They find a goat skeleton
covered with yarn, perfectly
preserved. They touch it,
it gets up and bites everyone.
They leave it alone.
One day God picked up Goat by his scruff.
“Do you believe in me?” he asked.
“It looks like I have to,” Goat answered.
“Think what you want,” God answered,
dropping him. “Bramble!” yelled Goat.
That night, he broke into Woolworths,
and destroyed the toy section. On a
rubber doll he found a yarn knot
and slipped it behind his whiskers.
His eyes felt like coal.
Goat rowed the boat out,
waving to Paw and Beast.
“I will become a fisher
of men!” Goat cried. “Just
catch fish,” Paw said.
Then he was alone. He saw
a train of fish heading North.
“Nothing will change this,” he said.
Then the water became grass, the fish
gophers. Goat was hungry.
Translations from the English 