of course it all depends
on what you mean by great.
great with child or great white whale,
Great Expectations or The Great Gatsby,
The Great War or the Great Wall,
where Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
all the king’s horses and all the king’s men
said what a great sport the old egg had been
when he went a-rumbling, a-stumbling, a-tumbling
and landed on his
Great Reward
I
gradually the numbness disappears
the illusion of normality returns
II
the tongue runs under the newly smooth section
an inspection of potential defects
while yet
the pinch of pain remains
III
and now
forever
a frayed heart’s cavity
empty and aching
Ken Sullivan (2022)
strategically situated
between the A-bomb and the H-bomb
the single sad distinction is
the shock value diminishes
with every blesséd detonation.
Who put the u put the u put the u
in the F-bomb?
Was it
u?
Who put f u put f u put f u
in the F-bomb?
Was it more than
a few?
Who put u c put u c put u c
in the F-bomb?
O, say, can you
FUCK?
Ken Sullivan (2022)
Of Goldman Sachs and the Many Sacks of Gold
All that glitters is Goldman Sachs.
The path of wealth a wealth of rats attracts.
Blankfein pays a bank fine as a frank sign that
banking is tanking
as an ethical endeavor.
Fraud is never never fraud
if you’re clever and you’ve sawed
all the regulators and restraints in half
infatuated with the Golden Calf.
And by filling politicians pockets
with the purloined platinum rockets
so provided to propel their next campaign
Here’s an observation from the great Mark Twain:
Some people don’t think very much of our Congress,
but I disagree.
I think we have the very best Congress
that money can buy.
(c) Ken Sullivan, 2020
In Darkest Night
In darkest night, a clear insight
will often come to some while sleeping,
the stirring of an inner light.
In darkest night a clear insight
will seem to set the world aright
The benefit of tea through steeping
In darkest night, a clear insight
will often come to some while sleeping.
(c) Ken Sullivan 2020
Eros and Oneiros
They have more than a nodding acquaintance,
a knotting acquaintance perhaps,
with the dreamer in love with the lover
and the lover lost, dreaming enrapt.
O Eros in Oneiros
Eros wafts his stinging spears,
whispers in Oneiros’ ears
which rich visions will delight
the dreaming denizens of night.
O Eros in Oneiros
The dreamers soon are introduced
to those who have, or wish seduced
And as the nights make their progressions,
the dreams succeed with their successions.
O Eros in Oneiros
On the shore of once before,
passed the grasp of Nevermore,
with Oneiros as hired guide,
and Eros in the air astride.
O Eros in Oneiros
Collapsing with laughs in the laps of the past,
while the dreamer is streaming what never can last.
O Eros in Oneiros
(c) Ken Sullivan, 2020