Sleepwalking with Mayakovsky

Robert Brown

• Publisher: The Kent State University Press
• Year: 1994
• eBook ISBN: 9781612778921
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: American Poetry
• Index: Literature

Sleepwalking with Mayakovsky is a collection of poems that explores the relationship between chaos and order."Robert Brown extends a tradition that unites reasons and passion, form and wit, history and memory. These often wry and always thoughtful poems are less acts than dances of the mind, as elegant as they are intelligent."—William Greenway

DOCTOR OF PHRENOLOGY

Listen. When I introduce you

to my brother, don’t let him

scare you or catch you

off-guard. Howard

has been strange since childhood.

He used to do cruel things with neighbors’

pets, things with clothespins

and his Erector set.

Watch him carefully when you shake

his hand, watch his eyes all the time.

Don’t let him start talking

about your head, because if he does,

he’ll reach into his coat pocket

and extract the calipers. But once

you see the calipers, don’t start

arguing with him, he might get violent.

It’s easier just to play along. Try

to relax. Let him examine you.

I don’t think he’s ever hurt

anyone. Cats maybe, when he was younger,

but never anything human. He may try to

measure your head, put the cold steel calipers

against your temples, tightening them

to find the exact width

of your skull. He may measure

other distances then and you may feel

uncomfortable. That’s all right.

He’ll finish soon enough and get out

pencil and note pad to calculate

your brain size. He likes

to tell jokes and make small talk

just like a real doctor. He’ll tell you

about his love life, that he’s only interested

in intelligent girls, and that he’ll marry

the first one with a brain

as large as his.

Listen. He’s going to be here

in a few minutes. Don’t be afraid,

phrenology is a harmless hobby.

You look nervous. Try to relax.

But if he whispers in your ear,

“I’d really like to get into your

skull,” start screaming. I think he’ll stop

if you scream. I only mention it

because I heard him talk once

about drill bits and core samples. Watch out

for that, I don’t think he realizes

it’s not safe.

And when he’s about done,

he’ll tell you that you have gorgeous

hair, but his fingers won’t touch

your hair, they’ll go straight through

to your scalp, searching out

minor bumps and indentations. He’ll only take

a minute, but when he’s done, he’ll know you

and tell you your life—your age

and your mother’s weight are easy for him.

Don’t let him impress you or frighten you.

Just watch out if he starts

talking about cranial plates

and fontanelles, or his research

into the gentle art of trepanning.

I’m not sure what these things mean

but the way he says them worries me.

After the exam, say “Howard,

thanks for examining me.”

He’ll be grateful then and kiss you softly

on the forehead. You’ll see that his eyes

will have lost all their intensity

and he’ll let you go away

unscathed.

SLEEP WALKING
WITH MAYAKOVSKY

Fifty-seven years after putting a bullet

in his chest, the ghost of Vladimir Mayakovsky

dragged me from bed. He said that he likes

to meet sleepwalkers at night, and that stars

in Montana remind him of Moscow and Leningrad,

that it was the same cut crystal shattered

across hollow sky, beautiful but sad and close

as dead friends. He told me that for ghosts

freedom is sadness and nothing is far.

When I was younger, reading Russian poets

and writing dark verse, I imagined roulette

by myself, like Mayakovsky, pulled the trigger

each night for a week and won. Mayakovsky, unlucky,

died on his third try. Last night he told me

about Tatiana, about “love’s boat smashed

against the daily grind.” He said every line

of his suicide poem was a lie—it was art’s

failure that made him want to die.

Just before dawn, as sparrows and robins woke,

he asked about my writing, said he was attracted

to sleepwalkers’ minds. Stupid, I told him not...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Chaos
• The Rise in the Fall
• In Defense of Blue
• Thanksgiving
• Doctor of Phrenology
• Sleepwalking with Mayakovsky
• The Walks
• On Their Way to Salvation, Seven Gnostic Fishermen
• Notes on Walking Man I
• The Geometry of Justice
• The Chess Players
• A Poem Which Resists Freudian Interpretation
• The New Morphology
• Don’t Even Bother to Ask
• The Dream at Half Moon Bay
• Nocturne: Late Spring
• Salamanca: Siesta
• The Afternoon Without Shadows
• The Polaroid of a Dream
• Where Eroticism Goes Awry
• Grace
• The Taken Measure