rousseau walks
on trumpetpaths
safaris to the heart of
all that jazz
thru i-bars & girders
thru wires & pipes
the mathematic circuits of the modern nights
thru huts
thru harlem
thru jails & gospel pews
thru the class on park
and the trash on vine
thru europe
and the deepdeep heart of dixieblue
thru savage progress cuts
the jungle line
in a lowcut blouse she brings the beer
rousseau paints a jungleflower
behind her ear
those cannibals of
shuck&jive
theyll eat a workinggirl like her
alive
with his hardedgedeye
& his steady hand
he paints the cellarfull of ferns
and orchid vines
& he hangs a moon above a
5pieceband
he hangs it up above
the jungle line
the jungle line the
jungle line
screaming in a ritual of sound and time
floating drifting on the airconditioned wind
&drooling for a taste of something
smuggled in
pretty women funneled thru valves
&smoke
coy&bitchy
wild&fine
& charging elephants
& chanting slavingboats
charging chanting down the
jungle line
theres a poppy wreath on a soldiers tomb
theres a poppy snake in a dressing room
poppypoison
poppy tourniquet
it slithers away on brass
like mouthpiece spit
& metal skin & ivory
birds
go steaming up
to rousseau's vines
they go
steaming up to brooklyn bridge
steaming
steamingsteaming up
the jungle line
.
