KENNETH PATCHEN LIVES
(1911-1972)

Though the critics,
academics ignore you
yet the midnight lights
glow when jazz horns in
railing down
on your ignition lines
in the solo booze and blues
at the Beat of recognition
from your hardened energy
to free verse
and voice in scat
from a skeptical pen
on monster highways
built by men and women
who still stare because
Dorothy's rainbow is at Oz
we stand in awe
and grief
seeking Kenneth
in our disbelief
knowing recognition
will be  soon realized
after a lover's dream
in a poet's words
spans to cover your years
from laughter
and tears out of misfortune
as you gawk at the sky
on a sidewalk of crazy
hawks and other birds
a clever poet who lives
like Blake and Whitman
never dies.