'Mark Trail' collage poem

Editorial note: In addition to sharing a collection of his journal entries concerning James Schuyler, Bill Berkson was kind enough to pass along this birthday poem he received from the poet in 1968. Using a technique Kenneth Koch popularized in his Columbia University workshops, Schuyler took liberties with the proto-environmentalist comic strip Mark Trail, replacing writer Ed Dodd’s captions with his own to create an existential flying fish collage poem. You’ll find a transcription of the poem below and details of the complete piece in this gallery; for a extra-large version of the complete strip, click here. — Michael S. Hennessey
 

Mark Trail’s funny fliers, A Bill Berkson Birthday Ode

To be born in August!
the month that rips out
the basting and the seasonal
suit holds together or
lets go and

you leap naked into life

and airborne greet September
October: ripe sun, foodstuffs,
colored leaves, in a flood
pouring like water. Farmer
Gull goes off for a winter
rest. You are alone

though at one with far-
mers, framers, ships,
ships’ radio operators,
orators, opera stars,
and all one thought
you slice the water
and it flies from you
“nitidus –a –um” words
shining as pebbles
the sea shifts and chews

School! each soaring open mouthed chanting
Dog Yellow Sky, Giant Mashed Potato Scoop
Fog Balls, Tropic Thunderburst raining
black strokes on green reflective water
you in your passage charge with blue

+, with love, J — S

complete piece	first panel	second panel
third panel	fourth panel	title, with Schuyler's addendum