Hi Friendlies,
Here are some Vogon Poetries for you to enjoy on your drunken Saturday.
I know my poems frighten some people because they are about…PEOPLE. And personhood. But I am not, I swear, writing about any specific person or people in my real life (except on rare occasions, and on those rare occasions, you will know without a doubt if a poem is about you.) And that's not necessarily a bad thing…I write because I am curious, confused, amazed, hurt or heartbroken. Not because I know anything about people that you don't know.
To me, people are just NATURE. Fuck sunsets!! Fuck forests, and waterfalls, and sandhill cranes. PEOPLE are the crazy/complex beautiful/ugly specimens that capture my eye & interest. As dull as we all can be, we are also very fascinating. You included/me included.
So please don't be paranoid & self-conscious (like a flower never would). And if you have any complaints, please send them to my publicist (though she has died. R.I.P. Juliet)
This first poem is actually based on a news story from last October. I entered it in the Rattle 'Poets Respond' contest & it didn't win, surprisingly!
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A FRIEND LIKE FREIN
I found a quiet corner
In the club
My girlfriend took the stage
W/ ginger charisma & Telecaster
During tuning
My eye drifted to the silent TV
Hung like a neon cobweb
Over buzzing bartenders’ heads
There he was in handcuffs,
Diapered clown
Village terrorist
Most-wanted idiot
Manhunt Ends in Pennsylvania
The cobweb announced
And I half-expected the clown
To somehow wrest
A homemade grenade
From his shit-stained pocket
But he walked & looked
Like a man & a boy at the same time
(approx. 10 hours ago
when the sun still shone
And I made love
with the one onstage)
Now he’s caught on the
Tangential screen
And smaller cameras
Snap his image
His lifeless whiteness
Punctuated by a bloody nose
But mostly unharmed
As the Marshals lead him
Through the muted celebration
A town without its clown
Can dance & shout & finally
Fall asleep
From behind I get clunked
On the skull & turn around to see
The Ex Boyfriend
My personal terrorist
And village hipster
Doing his best Frein imitation
Still hoping we’ll be friends--
Fricative, grinning,
Hands-on friends
Cuffing me with
Insults and ego
As seven weeks ago
The cuffs around the killer
Were held
By his executed trooper
10-31-14
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| Expressionist watercolor kitty vs. ... |
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| ...Impressionist watercolor kitty |
************
[NERVOUS] BREAKDOWN DURING [EBOLA] OUTBREAK
I used to count dead soldiers
But those numbers ceased to have
Any value as news
Why do I love counting?
It stops me in my tracks
I count everything from death
To socks &
It makes my brain flicker
But that pituitary lightbulb
Falters on weak filaments
When I'm forced to remember
Peoples' names
The compulsion
To count your eye blinks, your
Undisclosed throbs
My greatest pleasure, gone
Even your nude ministrations
Can't ease the gridlock
Now I count hours,
Days, and words
And there's no nudity, just tears
Gender-neutral tears
Too many to count so I just count
Episodes of sorrow
Sometimes feature-length
Sometimes longer
But never a 30-second spot
Between comedies
My memory for numbers
Is a dystopia, a dysphoric
Dysfunction
My tear ducts cough instead of
Crying
My heart's close-captioned hoof beats
Are allegedly hard to hear
Yet
I'm told
They're way too loud
I'm told,
"Get over it, man
Everyone is hurting
But you don't see them
Counting & crying
Be a man!
Be happy Jack
Not a harsh Jane"
11-07-14
***********
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| Phone Number w/ middle names |
SURVIVING THANKSGIVING
It mattered this year
That your family is carved like a turkey
Strung-out meat held together
By gamey fibers,
Easily torn…
But your worry was
For nought
There were no tears for
Thanksgiving
In the end you held strong
To your side of the wishbone--
With or without the hyoid joint
Your truth was fortuitous
You know how temporary
All families
All turkeys
All wishes are
And you can go on…
Through blizzards & riots
Most of America survived
Its 411th Thanksgiving w/ you
You shared yours w/ "girlfriends"
Like you could have all your life
If you'd been born a girl
You had the kind of holiday
You'll try to repeat every year
From now on…
****** THANKSGIVING PART 2
How to follow turkey talk?
With meatier meteors & particle physics?
Launched convo with too-pretty girl
Behind counter behind too-thick spectacles
She was too busy brooding
To notice your
Nerd-in-plain-sight behind nothing
Landing
Should we flow linguistically
From "turkey" to "turquoise"?
Let's do it.
We had a turquoise refrigerator (& stove)
In my childhood home
Turquoise trim on its
Mid-century modern edges,
Concentric turquoise rhombi on the garage door
Where a black cat
Was almost squeezed to death
When she didn't run underneath
Fast enough
Turquoise & Black
My favorite color combination
On the spectrum or wheel
I've read/heard/experienced
The walls in asylums
Painted cool pink
(Baker's pink)
To soothe the screams of
Patients
Please paint mine turquoise
If I ever get that lost
Again….
11-30-14
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| Phone Number w/ middle names II |
Holy crap!! Those were very long. I hope you're still with me. And I hope you enjoy the hideous artworks I've shared with you. I know I am a terrible writer, artist & musician, but those are the things that make me feel more like you & less like me. If ya know what I mean...
