JOHN WIENERS

"A Poem for the Old Man" from The Hotel Wentley Poems (1958)

____________________

God love you

     Dana my lover

lost in the horde

on this Friday night

500 men are moving up

& down from the bath

room to the bar.

Remove this desire

from the man I love.

Who has opened

     the savagery

of the sea to me.

See to it that

his wants are filled

on California street

Bestow on him lan-

gesse that allows him

peace in his loins.

Leave him not

to the moths.

Make him out a lion

so that all who see him

hero worship his

thick chest as I did

moving my mouth

over his back bringing

our hearts to heights

I never hike over

     anymore.

Let blond hair burn

on the back of his

neck, let no ache

screw his face

up in pain, his soul

     is so hooked.

Not heroin.

Rather fix these

hundred men as his

lovers & lift him

with the enormous bale

of their desire.

6.20.58