Canon Folderol

By: Charles Giuliano - Jul 29, 2022

 

Canon Folderol

What’s done
Cannot be undone
As it is written
Or not
So shall it be
Conventional wisdom
Tangled up in
Gnarly knotted mess
Time and memory
Twisted threads
Rastafarian dreads
Somewhat sacrosanct
Written into first draft
The plain speak
Tread of Giant Steps
Trane’s wailing horn
Fame and fortune
They made the cut
Carved deep in
Rock of ages
More than likely
Straight white men
Perhaps some gays
The occasional Oscar
Wilde cards
Where's Nina Simone
Mississippi Goddam
Fucking Count Basie
Poke Your Haunt Ass
Or a stout lesbian
Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein
Jane sang so radical chic
Tongue in cheek
That droning tone
Those who were not
Out in the cold
Graduate seminars
Young job hunters
Hide and seek
Dissertation topics
Canon folderol
Pruning the olive grove
On Mt. Parnassus
Sisters of Sappho
Waxing poetic
For tenure track positions
To and fro
Arguing Michelangelo
Presiding over exorcism
Academic circumcision
Exquisite precision
Snip and tuck
Mother fuckers
Knitting up the
Raveled sleeve of care
Unleashing vengeful furies
Sifting ashes
Rekindle flames
Tip my hat to change
New hall of fame
On my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again