Bedrieger Junction

Theses of Joy

Joy is a virtue
haunted by the way human bodies materialize
in front of where they are,
on a narrow street strewn with bricks
where thru a 3rd story window one can see that a saint hovers
anxious & common
over a sink full of plates.
Joy resists the shame of mirth, the tears of television
& three rumors of 14 museums to the south.
Autumn leaves are glad when no joy arrives.
Joy is independent of cooking, adventures, forgiveness, statistics, signatures, systems, birdhouses, jailbirds, exactitude, existence, tangled underbrush, the ability to divide width by duration, Ezekiel, Pontius Pilate, pomp & circumstance, grit & grandeur,
& a book left half-read on a chair.
Joy is a sin. In my father's house are many dishes,
but that doesn't mean you can break one.
Even if joy does hide under the glaze.
The moon has no joyous phase.

-- Basil Cartryte