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o ryan
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charles
olson
WHlTE RABBJT PRESS

Copyright 1965 by Charles Olson

O'RYAN 1

Overall, mover of the unnumbered

who did twelve labors, rose

at 4 AM. And when I complained
that I could not do as much,
she turned it on me this way,
that if he went to bed at 2
and rose at 4, you
rise at 2
and go to bed at 4. I thinking,
how neat. And necessary, we
who don't have God to encourage us,
at least that aim
in the business. Or think women
as much as those did who had God
We love em, we do not do without em
our necks are bent, we do see
the reflection, we do know
who's who, how what we ride
rides us, how there are twelve houses
to be got through: what one are you at,
fellow fellow? My purpose
is to invoke you, not at all any
muse.
Or at least none

that you are beholden

to, that you know
by taking sight, by merely
looking up. No zodiac
neither the one which comes after
pleasure, nor that one
after labors. The cincture now,
the emblem of the championship,
is care -by your mother's fire.
And sleep- sometime sodden sleep.
I don't read your face. Or you mine.
By looking up or down. Neither
the light nor the dark do we brawn
by. We do it all, I take it, my
fellow.
Will you join me
in one on the house?
Shall we drink
to the ladies?

O'RYAN 2

Tell me something, tell me

how you got that way
how'dya lose your
what stuck you in the pants
why did they ask you
to take on so much
Tell me something, tell me
what made you do it
why did you buy
so much shit
how come you got so far off
the rail
tell me, where are you
nowadays, what makes you
look so warm in the eye, who
told you your flesh is
as rosy as your
baby's, as rosy as
Rosy, as, your
moth-er's, as who got you up

in the morning
in the morning
Tell me: how'dya
get up? how did you
stand up after all
that lying down
what took
that look off
your face, how come you
shine, no shine
at all, all white
and lookip.g all over
hey, bruiser: tell me
something

O'RYAN 3

I heard they got you

on a rape charge
I

Or was it mugging
Or just minding
your own business, that you looked too much
like your fellow men?
was it they burned you
on the yellow tree?

O'RYAN 4

The story starts. It's

cinema
Mah
Or chuck, chuck, I'll
play with your rosy
Kate's the.girl for a
sailor for a
bosun, a gunner, a
merican (heave me a
sigh, he said, I lost
her, I lost her
by saying too much
by opening my mouth
And who comes along
but a sly guy, a guy
who doesn't do anything but
sigh - and of course
she was his, of course
We couldn't love you
if we didn't love you
with our mouth shut

O'RYAN 5

In other words
there ain't no villain
in this ,piece,
none at all.
There isn't any,
anyway. You find me one.
who isn't some stinking
sonofabitch of a man

O'RYAN 6

Your mother's. Your

mother's like they say
in a Chinese novel, to be as straight about it
as a sign can
As a sign in a can
We begin,
that way.
Virgin.
OK.
And let her rest, let her
if you can give it to her
if you can give it to her soul, if you can find out
what you owe her, what peace
a woman is, how you are all there
or you ain't, you haven't
slaked her thirst, you haven't
What a man has to do, he has to
meet his mother in hell

O'RYAN 7

Woman is a man's
all cause
A man don't have
no other
He can look, h e' s got
plenty, it's a short

he's got all the sky

to get up into, to get off his
But a woman is a man's .
yes
yes
yes

O'RYAN 8

He was all lit up

like a pinball machine
a son of the
classes

working

He came down on her

in the middle of the road
he belted her, he pinned his shoulders
to her

he scowled
right through his
And

back

O'RYAN 9

It's that way that's all

whether you like it or not
even if you can get it
all prettied up
Or you're that damned fool literate
you buy store bought clothes
Don't fool yourself
Underneath all them poems
it's night
you got a hard on
and it's
to be

made

O'RYAN 10

He loved a girl
And her name was

Woods.

He wooed her in the Maytime,

he wooed her in the fall
He wooed her after all the others,
he wooed her in his shoes,
he wooed her in the creases
between his rotten toes
He wooed her even thoug h
she threw the book a t him
he ran as fast as he could run
to keep his first look at her bum
She knew her business like the smartest
one, a female as the poems say
she got him and she slew him, he was that far gone
he couldn't leave off, she was so much his poison
so much his dish, he'd turn on a dime
to give her her wish
But the thing they didn't know
who didn't know him, was he knew how
she looked when she looked at him

And now you can see, there's a moral here.

It happened in Crete. Or if you're discreet,
I can tell you
more: it's no different, just down the street

Edition of 1000 copies, plus 26 copies hard-bound and

lettered A-Z,

printed and designed by Graham Mackin

tosh at the White Rabbit Press, Sep tem ber 1965. The

cover by Jess is taken from the original edition of

0'Ryan 2-4-6-8-10 which was published by Joe Dunn
at the White Rabbit Press in an edition of 300 copies.
September 1958.

z4 ALLEN ST.

SAN FRANCISCO