Title page of Hannah Weiner's copy of The Magritte Poems, reproducing Rene Magritte's Trahison des images & reading:

"Ce n'est pas une pipe does not mean 'this is not a pipe' in slang 'pipe' means 'blow job' so, "ce n'est pas une pipe,' means 'this is not a blow job' as well as the old epistemological joke 'this is not a pipe this is a picture of a pipe'"

Weiner signs the title page "Rene Magritte." Graphics and reproduction of this book are made possible by permission of Charles Bernstein for Hannah Weiner in trust and through the generosity of the Poetry / Rare Books Collection at SUNY-Buffalo. Typeset and edited by Patrick F. Durgin, May 2002 for the Electronic Poetry Center.

THE MAGRITTE POEMS

by

HANNAH WEINER

[ PDF version here ]

Amorous Perspective
I rushed through the door.
You had bitten a way for me. (1)
 
Man with the Newspaper (2)
1. Sat by the window
   in his wing collar.
2. Now he is gone
3. He is gone
4. Slight dominance of red velvet curtains
 
Dangerous Acquaintances
Would you rather
I turned my ass
to you? (3)
Well, say so,
don't stand there
holding a mirror.
 
The Castle of the Pyrenees
Come to my summer house.
It's damp
floating over the sea,
but you can light a fire
in any French Horn.
Eagles bring you there. (4)
 
The False Mirror
In your blue eye
the sky
has clouds
in it. (5)
 
The Alphabet of Revelations (6)
A key
a leaf
a stemmed pipe
a stemmed glass
                 
twisted wire
has torn canvas
unlocked
maple dreams
                 
the leaf also has a stem
the key also has a stem
 
Well, I laughed
I thought the clouds
were upside down.
They weren't.
You laughed.
                 
Revolution! (7)
 
The Golden Legend
Magritte, damn
your stone loaves (8)
that float past
my hungry
window!
 
Notes
1. See your dentist every six months
   for a regular check up
2. An American Paper for the Amer-
   ican People
3. Yes
4. Sundays and Holidays. Will not
   run May 28, July 2, and Sept. 3
5. today and tomorrow. Precipitation
   probability:
   Tuesday 20%, Tuesday night and
   Wednesday 30%


7. 
8. made from wheat and rye flour
   rye meal, yeast, table salt,
   vegetable shortening, malt,
   caraway seeds, caramel, onion
   powder, calcium propionate
   and water.

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