» Poetry
» Essays
» Reviews
» Contributors

Taipei Quartours

Gary McCullough

"The Dragon Mountain Temple (Lungshan Tsu) in the heart of the oldest part of the city, known as Wanhua, is a very natural spot to begin a walking tour[,] for the area is full of local color plus many interesting stores in which to window-shop."

—Joseph Nerbonne, "Crawling the Night Markets in Taipei", Business Travelers Magazine, pg. 12, vol. 3, no. 6, March 1984, Taipei, Taiwan, Rep. of China. (Newsstand price: US $2 / NT $80.)

Lung Shan temple of the Dragon Mount,
first of four the wandross peeks we piked:
carven clouds of mistry piling up
pyramidous walls of stonage green and grey,
whereoin reside throne oiken Buddhas
ice, dice, and thrice—all sarcofixed
in giult, afar the sun and fully spirit.
Afloat upon trey lillyrafts, do they
sift dispassional, nostrilling vapors,
which are the players of the platters of the plaints.
Befour them pass the penisenturies
in profession from urnestness to vas deferential,
unbundling stick by stalk their magicow wands,
they palm and plant in seven pots of sand:
flowerodourous cauldrons brightly buddhing
praygrant boonbeggoniads one-eyed
orchidations.
And eight and hoarny elderns bow times three
before the thraltern, whisping

"Was and wiz and willy be.
Flashes and ashes.
Trust to dust within us."

And othern chance, and othern reed in brooks.
And in the forecourt of the mawll, the daughters
buy yellow tissues gammadioned in red
at the tables of the moneymutable monks
flambeauent in gelden tissue flickening inly
and out by the cusps upon the respiring brease.
And the dotters of mankins the napkins of yellow
do mind fullyfold into nugets of gold
to fill up brown bags to regyve the monks.
And the moneymirabilis monks the bags of notes
incinetransformulate unto the dusted and dun
to speend them through their naughtical nott,
to pass the toom to dag of tome (from dirges
to purges, urges to surges, gurges remerges)
in the undertemplar cellar wherein
liburied in jarks in the cubbynants cantinning
the harvest ancrustal preserves of the pyre.
Whencever avaunter we.  Agen.  To the street

              (Refrain)

From healven defalling to firery wirld
From wyrld rerising tower retard
From tower involving spiraculous oval
From oval respiring forth for the flowall

and gnarly way, a labrysinuation
brazing incandlescence grows,
an ascent nonneon vegas of vulkures
falling frenzy to fodderhood—a bedlahem
birling berzircus in fareasturn scintills
a frantique prefordial fall strut
a marquette striptease hawqueen beewares,
a carnevil hockking buyer be oddwears
a noisegay inspired of sweet sweat and slop
and flucked fowl hanged by the heels upon hooks,
old woman noodles, and gasidious exaults
a twistered up, tumblerdown, jumbloudered crawl
thruxt a gauntlegged birtchering buzzaar
a wiggly squiggly river brimming in bream
a fatted feast for the fishers of men,
squawking and yawping mercanitile sawngs
in pitchinglish tongs, from boats and blinds
baubling their bate in the babeling brook:
starfruit and sugarcane, duck eggs and pears,
or statuette godlies or statuesque goddams,
or mynah birds mocking in wickerware cotes,
or lions, tigers, or bears (in horn or in plastic),
or dogs in their piddles or pigeons in shits,
or gold or francs, incense, or murther,
or money for money, kenning in kind
all but to be had by the buy of the hand.
"Butt eye me! witch itch would we scritch?
For many are cawing, but few may be chozen!"
"Skin shimmery, shim shammery,
sin shalla we rue."

              (Recorps)

From year anus defraying despenses dun
Spurks conflagracious enocomical clowmb
Serpagasus retitanus ruots upswords
Matterhood wound regaianing recroned

We corpus a corner to a sherpateam way,
a specktickler stagger of yaweninged showfronts.
Brunches of standers in a grin und a gape of
herpesturants where verminous vipers are sticked up
and milked by their heads to shots glosses of shpirits,
then strewng up and krissed from anus to adam,
and worm flood and nile are vampired into the brew
witch all is top-olived off with a vitalmen,
stirt, shirk, and skirved to mold men.
(The braisen respents are left up a laundraligned.)
"Chore health!" they skull, and "Lung life!"
and with a deep swiggle swallogre it shwollen
and in adishes sarchophage the long white meat.

"The party is fine!
The party's a sight!
The vipe and the vine
In the gizzard unite!"

"Heat, stink, and be married!" they lap and sting,
and "Pather, pry up us tonight, we prey!"
And othern fart or summon slowly smokes,
and holdens killin boldens with missiletoe kisses.
The feast of fare's caducious crucifer!
—Salamanantars souped in frierwater!
—Fishnumen prickled tantrickle in wishkey!
—Levittlecus lamiaed in kalifer saurce!
—Prattles uppiled in mensmeat piethons!
—Seraphs aswimmin slicker the slot!
—Joice of death, he lix her of life!
—Poisonal paphroplegiac, founting of stewth!
They lined them till they kund alignied no more,
till wince one and fall were fully foenixed,
with wrigglies reprigglied, they levite away.
A-bruising both bhead and heal they mander the straet
adown adown down to another byway
and we along after into an alley

              (Reburden)

The head bone's connected to the soup bone
The soup bone's concocted to the pry bone
The pry bone's computered to the heart's own
The heart's own's compuncted to the head bone

balled "blue" in the lickalese lanewage,
but'ts a tistrickt lustred in rouge its length.
A low narrow lane, peduncular manwalk,
a rivulet rutty of milking and horney,
wharem almondine madems in showhite tshirts
beck peckin longly from portals putinchus,
or giggerly gaggle us round on the strait,
and slip hands, coocooing (their tsongs in our lears)
"Come own us, you buoys, we'll moorn you all knights,
and krissin your cries of the come in again.
We'll bath eyes you in our bodiful booty,
an oint meant only for yourn urnguent.
Mary is maid in us much until morn,
orn olny an whoure, yourn 'our glory-holey!
Horae! merra tricks play we from hower to houghr!
O mummy cun reserect your flesh enternal,
fair nipper titty, queen of the nil!
Succor your peins in us, live in us louvre!
O psuch o pomp us, porter pap peter!
Hire us game us!  Halved your way, O butterking!
O spoil us! soil us! seed us! reed us!
W'ill mister you! mast you! offar you! strewe you!
Plant us!  Plow us!  Root us!  Sow us!
Tickle you!  Turtle you!  Troggle you!  Truffle you!
Main urgen moist mather urthen!
The mammories re mind you us moony a months!"

              (Recurse)

The snow falls whence we know not how
The ground conceives the mannafalld blessing
Come spring, come thaw, come green, come cows
Manuring the clods, regassing the clouds

Combing out cleaned these perdiculous pways,
we wagger throughin the pitblacknest of all,
and samehow remergus reinto the dragon's mouth,
relung, reknewall

              (Review)