the altar boy appearance long gone,
he ran off from the photo appointment
to stand in the store and watch the
Giants

he stopped writing.
known as a genius to his peers,
his books never sold.
some say because he was too good;
most said the other things.

his criticism was brilliant in its
rancour and decisiveness;
he was more of a bitch than a bard,
his poetry was more fawning and delicate.

as a critic he was a good surgeon,
as a poet he was stalled in a stale,
pale whimsy;
at any rate
he stopped writing each.

Somehow they did get a photo
one of the last photos of him
Sitting on a stone bench in needle park
hewn into an oblong glance of
mortification.

He died at 47
of a heart attack,
face down on the track
having drunk in the same bar as
Dylan Thomas,
the white horse tavern,
where the latest boys
offered in vain
white horses,
seeking that sane
flash of light;
lost to spondees and dactyls
against nature,
insights of the
grievous breath.
I'm glad they were here, all the fuckups: 
Hemingway, Van Gogh, Celine, 
Kerouac, F. Dos, and Rilke, 
Pascal, Artaud, Li Po, Buckley, 
D. H. Lawrence, John, &c. 

It makes getting through a night like this 
So much easier, you know. 
It's like borrowing them to hold you, 
Through to morning, or until, 
You find a footing in this slime pit. 
Those great monsters. who also failed. 

I can feel them in this room now. 
Along with this empty bottle, 
And the smeared silver, 
And the lighter that don't work. 
And the thousand dollar wrist watch 
Turned over to its left side, 
The second hand thin and moving, 
In the lamplight of Jacob's Room.
JACOB’S ROOM INSIDE AND OUTSIDE
ROTOLIGHT JACOB’S ROOM