Line Six: the poet like an acrobat
- "Sweeney Todd (Main Theme)" ? Stephen Sondheim
- "Phrygian Gates" ? John Adams
- "Bach Invention"
Line Fifteen: and other high theatrics
- "Serenada Schizophrana" ? Danny Elfman
- "Pianos" ? Danny Elfman
Line Twenty-Five: where Beauty stands and waits
- "I Will Wait For You" - Michel Legrand
Line Thirty-Two: spreadeagled in the empty air of existence
- "The Untouchables, The City of Prague" ? Ennio Morricone
Constantly risking absurdity
and death
whenever he performs
above the heads
of his audience
the poet like an acrobat
climbs on rime
to a high wire of his own making
and balancing on eyebeams
above a sea of faces
paces his way
to the other side of the day
performing entrachats
and sleight-of-foot tricks
and other high theatrics
and all without mistaking
any thing
for what it may not be
For he's the super realist
who must perforce perceive
taut truth
before the taking of each stance or step
in his supposed advance
toward that still higher perch
where Beauty stands and waits
with gravity
to start her death-defying leap
And he
a little charleychaplin man
who may or may not catch
her fair eternal form
spreadeagled in the empty air
of existence
by: Lawrence Ferlinghetti (b.1919)