Nude Supper

Nude Supper i

Desolation Angels, p.341

[Kerouac about Burroughs]

“…rejecting him completely from their interior decorated living rooms in retirement Florida because of the mad book he’s written and published in Paris (Nude Supper) –“

Heat wave
So hot
Summer in the naked city
How shall we dine?
How shall we sup?
Let’s shrimp in the raw
Peel the shells
Drop in aqua ice
Crisp baby artichokes
Snip off the points
Dip in cold sauce
And lobsters
Poached
Melt the butter
Squeeze the lemon
Take the napkins
Shuck one hundred oysters
Fresh sea brine
On the rocks
Chill the pearl of great price
Steam crabs
Crack blue backs
Don’t forget the Dubonnet
So much better than rum
In this heatii
Frosted glasses
And ice, crush the ice
The iceman comethiii
And taketh thy clothes away
Banana?
Peel it
Chocolate dip the tip
and pop in freezer
Ice cold red juicy watermelon
Here’s a glacial knife
And a hammer
For the coconut
Plums, so sweet, cold, and deliciousiv
Save them for breakfast
Sit you and me
By the iceberg
Under the palm tree

i Kerouac, Jack, Desolation Angels, 1965.
ii Kerouac, Jack, and Burroughs, William S., And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks, 2008.
iii O’Neill, Eugene, “The Iceman Cometh,” 1946.
iv Williams, William Carlos, “This Is Just to Say,” 1962.

GK Stritch

GK Stritch is a contributor to Beatdom and the author of CBGB Was My High School. The book is available at the St. Mark's Bookshop, New York City, and amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.