Abstract

Poem Beginning with a Line from a Yoko Ono Installation, and: Dinner with Friends Charles Jensen (bio) Poem Beginning with a Line from a Yoko Ono Installation Oh, you're making a joke. That's nice. Only, your joke's not funny. That's why you're not Yoko Ono. —Yoko Ono Please answer the phoneif it rings. The voicewill be Yoko Ono, but notthe real one—just a voice. If it rings, the voicewill ask you a question—a real one; just. A voice,some bits of electrical sound, [End Page 128] will ask you a questionabout your thoughts on art,some bits of electrical sound,or Yoko Ono in general. About your thoughts on art:can they be articulated for me,or Yoko Ono, in general?And then your passions, can they be articulated for meor will you stutter, falter?And then your passions,ignored, will sizzle out. Or will you stutter? Falterso long and she'll hang up,ignored. She'll sizzle out,the connection severed— so long! And she'll hang upher end. She'll forget you,the severed connectionpermanently silent. Remember her end. She'll forget youwill be Yoko Ono, but notpermanently. Silently remember:"Please answer the phone." [End Page 129] Dinner with Friends Their house rises up like a mountain's broad shoulder with bedrooms instead of caves, an attached garage. All around the house is silence, deep as a moat; a cluster of starved trees shielding wind. Everything I own you could fit inside the kitchen and still have room to cook, entertain guests. My entire life costs less than this statuary. My entire life costs less than the piano releasing its oversized belly in the extra living room. When the night settles down around the house like a sheet that silences the caged bird, they sleep as content as balanced checkbooks. There are two front doors. One that you use, and one that is simply meant to be adored. Charles Jensen Charles Jensen is the author of The First Risk (Lethe P), which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, and Living Things, which won the 2006 Frank O'Hara Award. His poems have appeared in Copper Nickel, Field, the Journal, New England Review, and Willow Springs. Copyright © 2012 University of Nebraska Press

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