Rock 'Em Out

Courthouse Steps
by D.A. Powell

to say no more of art than that it makes, by its very distraction
a mode of abiding
accordingly, its variations: each type of thread-and-piecework
named double engagement ring, log cabin, or broken dishes
all built on the same geometric figures—
precise interception of angle and line
so too each tale of love is rooted in that first tale: the poet
descending to the underworld
finally granted his shade, who'll follow him
only to disappear again. perhaps one version has them reunite
affixed in their solo chromospheres the stars, which,
to the human eye, appear to overlap
substanceless love
immune at last to gravity and time—
in texas (I might as well recount this as a story) there's a town
with a courthouse built on concrete and twisted iron
edified in red granite, capitals & architrave of red sandstone
with point and punch, a carver broached the effigy of his muse
he rendered her attractive features, down to the very blush
of course she spurned him,
of course there was another to whom she turned
love should not be written in stone but written in water
(I paraphrase the latin of catullus)
the sculptor carried on: not just the face of his beloved
but the face of her other lover:
snaggle-toothed, wart-peppered, pudgy
them both, made into ugly caricatures of themselves, as wanton
as the carver perceived them, and as lewd
well, craze and degenerate and crack: the portraits hold
though, long since, the participants have dwindled into dirt

beautiful. unbeautiful. each with an aspect of exactness
tread light upon this pedestal. dream instead of a time before
your love disfigured, a time
withstanding even crass, wind-beaten time itself







I chose this song to represent this poem for a number of reasons. For one reason, one of the least "deep thinking" reasons for choosing this video and poem correlations, was the beauty and euphonious sound of both. Now, more deeply, I chose this poem and this song because both were speaking of distress in some way. The dispute between "beauty" and "unbeauty" was very similar to angst felt by the author of this song, "Help!". Moreover, the lines "I need somebody" written by John Lennon in collarboration with Paul McCartney mimick the lines written by D.A. Powell when he speaks up "subsaneless love" and his angst and confusion with this woman comperable to a court house. I found this song and this poem to be very comperable, both in beauty, composition, and topics. I feel the upset feelings of both of these works were very similar indeed.