233. clam high priests live in a world almost hidden

clam high priests live in a world almost hidden
from clams in the common (streets, you know, sitting) —
beef brains beware, ideas is airing
(for, isn’t, fogs them) — clam priests, compared to

priests in cordova, calcutta, or dover
where SOMEONE HAS TOLD ME the priests are controlled by
small fuzzy bees their brains into beaver,
and tell them the end of the world starts on easter

the clam priests are bred in a system of sledges
(toboggans they took, but only the best ones),
and if you then feed these clam beds with meals
of jelly (grape) royal clergymen reach

at twelve they are flushed from the clam beds (the mud),
and taken to learn the apostles and stuff,
and if they are worthy a beef head is birth(ed),
and slapped on their shoulders (forever a burden)

clam priests are wise, but mostly they’re blind
BECAUSE OF THE HEAD THAT COVERS THEIR EYES,
but when it comes to the trinity, group
always the father, the son, and the soup

the father is filbert, the son he had killed for
REASONS UNKNOWN but probably children
those days were well enough dead for the benefits —
A DEAD SON OF GOD IS WORTH TWO (or an elephant)

a bird in a clam is worth five in the sand,
a whelk is for twelve — birds, i mean, standing,
sitting, or strung on a line — birds are one
cockle or two fifths a clam if it’s clumped

conches are cool at five dollars the spool,
mussels are meaty but don’t really move,
these markets are mostly for bi-valves free-floating,
but sometimes a shrimp the clam priests will toast, the

clam high priest suppers say BULLY FOR BUTTER,
CHIVES, AND A SPLASH OF WINE (WHITE), THEN COVER
TWELVE MINUTES FINE ON A SIMMER, THEN DRINE,
AND SERVE WITH SOME PASTA, POTATOES (IF FRIED)
(cont.)