Holly and Other Poems

 
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Bibbe Hansen

Art by David Gilbert

 
 

Holly

more richly lush than a

Hollywood lawn

with the courage of Callas

dangerously infamous as any 14 pirates

Saturday morning siren smiles

late night hustles in bad hotels

our lives renewed with

Sunday brunch

giraffes laughing

snooty ladies in snoods

you struck a mood,

i have yet to shake

a chord I still strain to hear

and a fancy I will never let go

 
 

Mario

At Mario’s Dance School

for debs in the making

pinky finger teacups tilt just so

to slide all the love down

in one small neat swallow.

You, more arch and poised

than any classless rich girl

Your grace-filled glance

more treasured than

a thousand paychecks

We still applaud your coming out

What a party it was!

What a jewel you were!

And your smile,

suffused with secret shy delight

Courting the camera and us

Then, a sudden hush

I glanced up

and you were gone

Slipped through the trees

Into the breeze

… away from us again



Sleep sweet, beautiful soul.

Te queremos para siempre

 
 

Jonas

pullback slow pan reveal: the wilds of Central Park

feral street kid me, playing country girl for a day

you show her how to see the sky without a rooftop

to glimpse the fire of the sun

through the fluttering deep green leaves of a tree

light and sky making the eye dance in dappled light

you teach her to taste the sweet end of a long blade of timothy grass

and hold it between the teeth as a young Lithuanian cow boy might



St Jonas, the Protector of the most fragile of relics

bits of emulsion and celluloid

cavorting on the collective human consciousness

you, the art warrior, now ridden to Valhalla

we light candles and pray our courage will marry your fierce unrelenting devotion

to the flickering eternal images of human connection and longing



framing the flame of our essence

essential fractals of universal indulgence, whimsy,

the embodiment, personification, of a kernel of self

invisible memories from childhood

at one with the whole body of things

observed, assumed, here for us

You taught us poetry in a projected image

ecstasy in a single frame

to treasure these fragments of paradise

to defend and protect, cherish and preserve, that which is good

to trust our angels

 
 

Dorothy

Mistress Dorothy,

Dean of the school

of all things proper

Prim to the rim and

brim full of

three-martini lunches

and too many brunches

for suppers to count

Dragulas in tow

wrapped in a bow

with a cigarette flick

you down it

like a drought’s

About to hit

No doubt

you’d out-snit

any ten of us twits

I long sometimes

to hear your

waspish buzz

the way it was

alas

Ms. Dottie Doom

has left the room

 
 

John

Dialing a poem from Beyond

for the late greatest John Giorno

Send me some lines

to mine your heart for Old Gold

to conjure the twinkle in your eye

and the love and laughter in

your painted poet words



Post-dream I got a dial tone at dawn

Good morning dear

John Day, Bon Giorno

John Giorno



You got everyone to pay

for all our words

Thank you

and Good Night

Hope you are resting in peace

or getting a piece

whatever suits your afterlife longings

May they be filled to the brim

as we still drink from your cup

and will ‘til time

is up

 

Fall / Winter 2023



Bibbe Hansen

Bibbe Hansen is a veteran of Andy Warhol’s Silver Factory and the 1960’s NY experimental theater and film underground. She is the daughter of Fluxus and Happenings artist Al Hansen, and the mother of visual artist Channing Hansen, pop musician Beck, and poet Rain Whittaker. She lives in Hudson, New York.



David Gilbert

David Gilbert is an artist based in Los Angeles. Gilbert stages vignettes in the studio, and the resulting photographs capture a studied airiness and grace alongside moments of true spontaneity and accident. In the February 2019 issue of Artforum, Wayne Koestenbaum wrote Gilbert is “a photographer whose beat is the afterlife as it takes place now, in this studio, this room, among these bedclothes and paint stains and wigs and strings” in a feature about his work. He is represented by Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles; Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York; and Rebecca Camacho Presents, San Francisco.



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