MADRIGALS

By JS Venit

Valery prays for the soul of Ravel whose hand feeds wax to a wooden fawn Schubert drowns Marie
the German wife of Mallarmé followed by butterflies pestilence and anabaptists. In my sleep I steal your vests and pins the fox steals water from a stagnant pool having traveled many miles to accomplish this task. And before… Before the ibex the bear and the indignant dirt gods with long ears grinning in Business Class. In business class Pelléas and Mélisande wave fatally and flirt on the path to open space. To open unopened space click here.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9798369406632

JS Venit

JS Venit was born in New York and emigrated to Belgium in 1980 where he lives and works. His poems have been published in the Partisan review, the American Poetry review, Literary Imagination and the Little Magazine. This is Mr. Venits eleventh collection of poems.

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Copyright © 2023 by JS Venit.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 08/30/2023

Xlibris

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CONTENTS

PART I

GRIEF

ANTHEM

POST MORTEM

THE WHY’S BEHIND US

LEMONOLA

POEM FOR UNACCOMPANIED MUSIC

RIVER OF THE BEES

CROWDS

PORTRAIT OF A PORTRAIT

SONG OF THE SKY

WOODLINGS

USELESS BALLADS

CITY FACADES

THE WOOD MAGICIAN

SAINTS SCHOOL

PORTRAIT OF A SKY

THE SCREAM

ALLEGRA

ERRATA

SHADOW BOXERS

STRAY PIECES

IF THERE IS ROOM

ROUGH JUSTICE

ELEGY

WHAT IS AN AUTHOR

RANDOM VENDETTAS

ODDITIES IN SPACE

MALTESE LACE

THE LATE ROMANTICS

HOCUS FOCUS

CHANCE ENCOUNTERS

OCTOBER

QUICK QUESTION

GATES FOR LAZY AND ENERGETIC THIEVES

MIDNGHT BLUE

PART II

ILLUMINATIONS

MORE CHANCE ENCOUNTERS

DISMANTLED STATES

THE SLIPPERY REVIEW

TANG POETRY

PROJECT WIZZARD

THE LAGOON OF DREAMS

THE SHAPE OF RAIN

DISCOVERIES THAT MELT

REMEMBERING DREAMS

SYLVANER

THE COMMISSAR OF STARS

LEARNING FRENCH

TROIKA

THE LIVES OF BIRDS

THE MUSEUM OF PREMONITIONS

GATEKEEPERS

WHAT GOOD IS SILENCE

MALICE IN WONDERLAND

FOREIGN ENTANGLEMENTS

WHERE THE LADDERS START

MEMOIRS OF A DOVE

THE FUGITIVE SOUL ACT

UNACCOMPANIED PIANOS

IN THE BLOOD FACTORY

QUANTUM CAPITAL

LINES FROM A BAD MOVIE

WE

BIFFEZ LA MENTION INUTILE

EUROPE

OMEGA’S THINGS

MADRIGAL

FUGUE AND DEELICTION

ASTRAL SONGS

WHO IS DOVLATOV

THE PEOPLE V AMERIKA

ANOTHER CHAPTER

MEMENTO IN BLUE

GHOST SHOTS

ANTELOPE VALLEY

CLOUD CONCEPTS

LITTLE GALLOP

HONEST THIEVES

SHADOWS ON THE TAGUS

THE GRAND WIZARD

SWANSONGS AT NIGHT

WHEREWITHAL

PART III

À RONSARD

LE PRÉSIDENT EST DANS LA RUE

L’AVENIR

EDWARD THE NINTH

LOST AT SEA

LA STRADA

LINES FOR UNACCOMPANIED HANDS

THE ALBANY EXPRESS

DREAM

PENGUIN BOOKS

THE PASSÉ SIMPLE

ALTER EGO

IOWA DAYS

CAPTAIN MARVEL

THREE HUNDRED DAYS

L’ESPRIT DE L’ESCALIER

MONSOON MONSIEUR

A COUNTRY DOCTOR

MODERN TIMES

NAVY BLUE PARROTS

ODE TO SEMIOTICS

WHO AND WHEN

NEWS OF ELSA

CHINESE POETICS

WHAT THE CHOCOLATE SAID

DUBAI CAMELS

DAY THREE HUNDRED

THE GARDEN OF STRAY OATS

GERRRYMANDERED

DREAM

GERMAN ENGLISH

WHO IS MALDOROR

A PLACE CALLED HOUSE

FAMOUS DUTCH POETS

DURCHEINANDER

WHAT LITTLE WE KNOW

FOX TROT

CECI N’EST PAS UNE PIPE

GHOST MENUS

OVERVIEW

ES WAR EINMAL

AN ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION

SAN AND CHAN

IN APRIL

PIECES TO BEGIN WITH

THE FUTURE OF WATER

PART IV

HISTORGRAPHY

OBLASTS AND VERSTS

PORTABLE BUSINESS

THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR

THE HANGDALE THREE

THE BEAD

BEGGARS’ OPERA

FORSYTHIA

QUINCUNX

NEEDLEWORK

RAMSEY PRICING

TRISTAN AND ISOLDE

LATE MUSIC

UTOPIA PARKWAY

HYPNOTIC MUSIC

THE WOUNDED ORACLE AT DELPHI

CHALKBOARD DAYS

MONDRIAN

TWELVE UNHAPPY APES

CAMOUFLAGE

ANDROGYNY

MINIMALISM

RHAPSODY IN C

PENNY DREADFUL

INDIANA

THE DISENTITLED

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

LAST DAYS

THE PLAGUE AND I

SNOW WHITE ON WHITE

THE PLANGENT WE

DER UNTERGANG

POETS OF THE TANG

AFTER RILKE

SUNDAY WITH A BREEZE

LEFTOVER TITLES

MAY DREAM

ZOO POEM

PALINODE

HONDURAS

EPITAPH

ASIDES ON THE EMU

POEM AND COLLAGE

LÀ-BAS

IN THE APOSTLE STORE

GRIEFWORK

GOUNOD’S FAUST

HOW I BECAME AN AUTHOR

REVOLUTION IN A

SONGS OF PROVENCE

IMPROMPTU IN F

INFATUATION IN BLUE

WAR NEWS

ISIS

RADIO CITY

MY ROOM

LATE PIANO WORKS

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

PART V

WINGS FROM THE CABBAGE PATCH

FOSSIL REMAINS

WORDS

IMPOSSIBLE LANDSCAPES

EXCAVATIONS

PAINKILLERS

WAVES

HUNGER

HEMLOCK

LAST NIGHT

CLOUDS

TALES OF THE CAT

THE QUONG PERIOD

METAMORPHOSES

LOONEY TUNES

VIEWS FROM THE HORIZON

MARGINALIA

MANACLES AND PANACEAS

BANK HOLIDAYS

BEANSTALK

CLEAN THEORETICAL PLACES

WIDOWS’ CHASE

THIS PAGE OR TWO

MULCH

REFUGÉS

I AM IN A HOTEL

SHORT POEM

THE NO-SEE-UMS

MULTIPLE QUESTIONS

FEEDING CROCODILES

PRISM

ENGLISH HUMOUR

WIKIPEDIA

APOSTROPHE

MOTHER GOOSE

EARTHWORKS

REGENLIEDER

FLATLANDS AVENUE

For Iryna

Wem sonst als Dir

PART I

GRIEF

For Iryna

P oetry travels

with a certain uselessness

like form

While the pantoum

hinges on desire and

excess both desperate

and nuanced

In contrast fluids

are subtle and sincere

as ghosts

Like the ghost of

Li-Po rounded up from

one day to the next

So you may understand

its sweetness

ANTHEM

W ater lilies should I rise

and chant what ’tis of thee

and night a purple moon or

smiling Mormon what of

the