Wednesday, September 06, 2006

 
Ode To A Florence Nightingale?

What were the words of that Romantic hack(as in the hacking cough of tuberculosis)?- "one minute [passed out], and Lethe-wards had sunk..."? -sounds like something penned from a detox center to his nurse, assuming the guy had one in pre-NHS England. But "Lethe"?...isn't that from some truly great poetry of the last century? You know -the one about illegal and heavily defended and booby-trapped marijuana patches in California. I'll highlight "Lethe".
The military allusions should be plain enough, but it may help to point out that "Conquistador" refers to the song by Procul Harum



To Autumn in Big Sur

Sinsemilla and mellow fruitfulness,
Cannabinol blossoms, maturing Sol;
Concertina wire. Load blunderbuss
With fleschettes. Lay mines ‘round the catch-thieves hole;
Defend with pineapples and Claymored trees,
And fill all frags and pipe-bombs to the core;
An ex-National Guard humps demilled shells;
A once bird colonel to start bombing more,
And still more: Bouncing Bettys for the knees.
Until they fink, informants ever please,
And stoolies fear their lumps in refilled cells.

Seagrams and twists, quick lime forgetfulness,
Lethe flower resin fast cured in sun.
Conspiring , make thy kilo weigh much less
With demurred opine when calibration’s done.
Tho oft our blades careless in scabbards rust,
The offshore banker says, “Mon, please-de door!”
Dreading surveillance or a no-knock bust,
We’d crank up Shankar or "Conquistador."
To fend off munchies go not without your Pez;
Cast stones at condors, beak in carrion,
And swell our guts, and be with stout Cortez,
Stoned,
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.