Turkey To Turquoise; Watercolors To Words

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!

********************

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

Expressionist watercolor kitty vs. ...

...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

***********

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

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...