O Natascha
in a dacha
in Siberia
Like a pasha!
O Panama!
(gringo the lilacs)—
O paper money
RSVP only
with them there eyes—
(derrières)
O disguise! Bang!
Bang! bang! bang!
Or, the only war we had
Poet and filmmaker Frank Kuenstler (1928-1996) was the author of Lens (1964), Selected Poems (1964), Paradise News (1966), Fugitives. Rounds (1966), 13½ Poems (1984), Continued (1987), Miscellany (1987), In Which (1994), and The Seafarer, B.Q.E., and Other Poems (1996). Today, three volumes of Kuenstler’s work are still in print, including The Enormous Chorus (Pressed Wafer, 2011), from which this selection was drawn. Thanks to Nico Alvarado, Emily Kuenstler, and William Corbett for allowing Petri Press to aid in their efforts to revitalize public interest in a great poet.
