Gender: Joined: 16 Mar 2006 Posts: 2774 Status: User Location: Tashkent, PA
Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 3:53 am Post subject: Open Poetry Thread
POST THAT SHIT
Beulahland
where's moustache man i ask
why she asks back
i want to punch him in the mouth, that's why
be civil she says
i'll be civil, i'll be civil all over his face
puccini blares out of the stereo
it was ragtime a few minutes ago
and when we came in it was wolfmother
the baked busboy on waiter duty
refills my root beer and asks
if she wants another bloody mary
i say no for her
i know her limits better than she does
the buttonfaced polka-dot dress
shorthair waitress cleans off a table
an overweight woman pays her check
fuck you, ethan, i wanted that refilled
no i say, no, you've got to bike home
can't you carry me?
i'm as drunk as you are
whatever she says, whatever
puccini wraps up his sonata
the waiter with dreads taps his fingers
outside the wind is blowing harder than ever
this next one is in iambic tetrameter
candle weeps wax
candle weeps wax
and ceilingbeam smacks
of shadows and moonlight
an umbrage's axe
wade through the twilight
they'll put up a fight
and all your defenses
will fall from their height
bombarding your senses
what knowledge dispenses
can never relieve you
from luminous fences
i will believe you
we'll do what we have to
but walk past this stage
and your fate you'll fall into
you can't turn the page
it's stuck there with age
so live in this now
and your past i'll assuage
follow your vow
we'll clap, take a bow
it's never for naught
if you mean it - and how
the night is distraught
the stairs are pulled taut
and though you ascend
you can't 'scape the thought
that never's the end
tomorrow's your friend
you can't wait a second
if promises mend
and promises beckon
forever, you reckon
through cinnabar blaze
your lifelines are fecund
avert your fine gaze
to the stairs of your ways
you know them quite well
as ascendency's dais
and down to the dell
and upwards as well
if heaven is higher
i'll see you in hell.
Leo
lots of people eat meat
but Leo was an anti-vegetarian
I hated eating with him
he'd sit next to me
his pork belly protruding
his bearded face
stuffed with pork
after a while
he'd turn his bulbous
nose to me
"why aren't cha eatin' th' tenderloin?"
"don't eat pork."
"oh christ. you're not
one of those vegetarian faggots
are you?"
"no. I keep kosher."
"alright.
that's respectable.
I respect kashrut.
but vegetarians?
fuck 'em
waste of air.
and don't get me started on vegans.
but you're respectable.
I respect you."
he finally swallowed his pork.
I couldn't tell
if I wished he was
my dad
or if I was glad
that he wasn't.
he died of a heart
attack about a year ago.
That Creepy Little Vietnamese Guy
I got on the bus at 39th
I didn't really need to go home
or want to, but I decided to just the same.
The first thing I do after
showing my pass or giving fare
is survey the crowd riding the bus.
If it's particularly crowded,
I look for someone to sit next to.
The bus wasn't particularly crowded,
so I sat wherever.
There was a woman with black,
ripped tights and too much makeup.
There was a guy behind her
with a goatee, eyeing her.
A fat man took up three seats
at the front, drinking a big gulp from 7-11.
And then, of course, there was
the creepy little old Vietnamese guy.
I only know this guy from the bus.
I don't know if he does anything else;
I either see him getting off or getting on.
He must live on Division
because this is probably the only bus he takes
he gets off at 22nd and walks to 24th.
I keep tabs on things like this.
I get off at 22nd too, so at 25th
I raise my hand to pull the ringer.
Just as I get my hand around the yellow line,
the bell dings. The creepy little guy's
beat me to the punch.
I stand behind him as we get ready to step down.
He's wearing a suit, not a nice one,
his hair is cropped like Duke Nukem's
and his teeth are all yellow, jagged.
On top of that he smells something foul,
not even like Vietnamese food,
which is actually kind of pleasant.
We get off. I turn to 22nd, get ready to cross.
Just then he stops me.
"Hey friend, do you have a dollar?"
His accent isn't as thick
as I thought it would be.
"No, I'm fresh out."
"Come on, friend, you just got on the bus.
You must have something."
"I have a pass, man. I
don't have to pay fare this month."
I really don't like the way he calls me "friend."
I'm not your friend, creepy little Vietnamese guy.
"Let me see your pass."
"Uh, look, I should really be going..."
"Let me see your pass."
Something commanding now in his voice.
I take out my wallet and show him my pass.
April. The April pass is pink, with a black "Y"
for youth.
Shouldn't the April pass be green?
I associate color with everything.
I see a dollar fall out of my wallet.
It's green, like April should be.
He gives me a scowl to give Satan
a shit in his pants.
He's the brown bull and I'm red as a tomato.
I don't know if I'll ever see that guy again,
but if I do,
I'm probably gonna have to fight him.
The Ugly Daughter
My wife's daughter is very ugly
I thank god that she's not mine
She's the breed of a previous marriage
To a man I've never met named Doug
I assume his genes were the sour ones
My wife is a gorgeous woman
But her daughter will never be
My son with my ex Lucinda
is not particularly handsome
but put him next to his step-sister
(Janey's her name, which doesn't help)
you'd think he could grace the cover
of magazines everywhere
she needs a bag for her head
I realize the double-standard here
even if my son were a truly ugly son
he wouldn't ever know it
but my step-daughter will know it
she's too young now, but put her in school
and it won't take long
for everyone to let her know
Her nose turns too far up
her ears are as big as an elf's
or at least one of them is
she's not really fat or skinny
somewhere in the middle I guess
not tall or short, either
even her hands are unimpressive
Every time I lie next to my wife
and think of my step-daughter
I have to wonder where her genes went wrong
I imagine them meeting Doug's chromosomes
and saying "hey, you know what'd be a gas?
let's make these people's daughter
the ugliest you've ever seen."
I'm worried that when she's older
I'll have to console her
she'll ask me, "Papa, I have to know
do you think I'm ugly?"
and of course I'll say, "no, dear
you're the prettiest girl
that I've ever laid my eyes on."
I can see it now. As I tuck her in,
she smiles and begins to drift off.
I walk out of her room, close the door,
and head downstairs for a beer.
I pop open the cap, sit down and ponder.
What's the point in lying to the kid?
I think about going back up.
every day (I wrote this one like a year ago)
today-
i stood out in the open asphalt field
poppies growing from the patches of grass
systematically placed in the middle of every block
there were three cars piled in front of the streetcar
no one was injured, no one was dead
but i wondered if any of them were thinking
if they knew their mouths were nothing but extra horns
screaming soundless "blahs" into empty space
yesterday-
i was waiting for two people to say something
one to apologize, one to confess
i lied down on the bench and wondered
what the hell were you thinking?
did you mean anything you say?
i ended up running off with someone i love
i felt happier that way
the day before and every day before you called-
fill in the blank, it's on my back
wishing you would just pick up the phone
listening to music with lyrics i don't yet understand
funny how things unraveled backwards
mechanical love (I think this one will score well here)
initiate startup program: c:/foreplay.exe
jagged caress of steel, the flesh
of the souless, malcontent
subprogram invalidated: c:/erection.exe DENIED
female initiates viral program: c:/viagra.exe
preprogram startup
holy feelings denied
in this stratosphere obscene
the walls compounding
their blades surrounding the scene
main program initiated: c:/penetration.exe
no one programmed ecstasy
into these crude machines
the clumsy sound
the screeches abound the steel figurines
the rust has shaken off
clanking turns to the razor tone
the apocryphal screams
she lets out when she means to moan
postprogram: c:/cigarette.exe
was it as good for you as it was for me?
POST IT POST IT POST IT
My friend John and I are entering a slam in a few months. And I'm thinking of getting published. Woo _________________
Smell the avocado
Touch it and notice the softness
But what is that nub,
at the top ?
Did you press on it;
I hope you did not.
Because the avocado
-- you guessed it--
...is a grenade. _________________
Gender: Joined: 16 Mar 2006 Posts: 2774 Status: User Location: Tashkent, PA
Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 5:26 am Post subject:
more I forgot to post
like a luminescent devil
shine shine shine
like a luminescent devil
there's nothing left to live for
and no excuse to die
nothing matters
and no one's looking
so dance like tomorrow
is an anachronism
nebula I
i met you once before
three thousand years ago
on a cerulean shoreline
before babel collapsed
before enoch vanished
we spoke the same tongue
with the same mouth
and the same lips
and we knew what we were saying
without saying anything
we stood at the base
of an active volcano
and traded shells
your hair was black in the wind
like the brother of a devil
the fingertips of a wisp
your skin was neither light nor dark
but the color of the earth
before babel collapsed
before the ladder to heaven vanished
before god existed
your eyebrows
were thick as caterpillars
and your hair
your black, obsidian hair
cut my face
and cut yours fine
before it all came crumbling down
you smiled and thought you knew
it would last forever
and i did too
i loved you
the waves rolled in
flotsam and jetsam
flora and fauna
of the watery abyss
i made love to you
and you made love to me
and i cried and you cried
and it didn't matter
because tears
tears didn't mean anything
three thousand years ago
on a cerulean shoreline
at the base of an active volcano
three miles from babel
one naut from heaven
where we made love
together, not at one another
it's three thousand years later
ago is not a word we speak
babel has collapsed
enoch has vanished
and god is omnipresent
as he is
of all people a zoologist
classified this concrete jungle
with jaguars and tauruses
wonders and blights
ghettoes and paradise
left and right
the whole damn spectrum
concentrated into one
like any other metropolis
and i am here
i am in the middle of it all
at the crux of humanity
with quotation marks
like whiskers
playing about my fading smile
the southern cross
hangs overhead
and no one pays it
any heed at all
horologium, lupus,
pisces and capricorn
all hang in the sky
and no one even
bothers
no one dares
to look
where are you?
what happened to you?
if i follow the sky
will i find you?
what's in the name of god
that's not in the image of man
that i can't find
when i find
you
you
you
you
somewhere past this
concrete jungle
there's a freeway
leading to a concrete swamp
to an iron moor
to a steel enclave
a sweetly manufactured
promontory
where you, like my thoughts
lay bare
and unaware
and i can never find you there.
and even past that facade
there's a cloud
above a tower
leading to a garden
in an empire
just three miles from a
cerulean shoreline
three thousand years ago
if the past is a place
i'm going there
and i hope you're still waiting.
nebula II
i can be a sullen man
i can be an indifferent man
but no matter what
no matter who says what
i am NEVER a sarcastic man
no, i'm just fucking with you;
i am a sarcastic man
that guy just left.
hi.
what's in a name?
well, letters, sometimes heritage
sometimes a creme bruleé
sometimes history
sometimes tragedy and struggle
well I guess i don't have any of that
because i don't have one.
it's not like my parents never tried
they tried
but nothing fits
nothing sticks
hoards of people
maybe a thousand strong
have tried to christen me
and have all failed miserably,
regrettably.
some went with zoroaster,
some went with god.
some went with jesus,
some went with allah.
nothing fits.
can i make this more clear?
I DON'T HAVE A NAME.
i don't need one.
i don't want one.
and if you can't deal with that...
obscene gerund.
offensive slur
i can be a sullen man
i can be an indifferent man
but no matter what
no matter who says what
i am NEVER a man.
i've been pondering
exactly what it's all about
i have a pair of white
panties with blue spots
around my head
i am in japan
and i have not seen the light
of day in two years now
what is it
what is it
it's it, they say
it's it, it's it
what is IT?
with apologies to mike patton
i make my point clear:
we've all got a purpose
but no one's is the same
my purpose is my purpose
and your porpoise is your purpose
our fates do not intertwine
our destinies will not comingle
i am in berlin
and i have not seen the light
of day in three years now
they shipped me underground
in a mine cart filled with glass
our fates do not comingle
path a does not intersect path b
and path b is not a straight line.
what is it all about.
a wise man once said
you can get all the pussy you want
and never be satisfied
a wise woman once told him
to shut the hell up.
an ignorant said to me
my mouth is filled with glass
look at me when i talk to you
what time is it
no
look at me when i talk to you
he had a priest's choker
and was either the stupidest
man i ever met
or a complete genius
i'll tell you what it's all about.
i'll suck your dick
or die trying.
don't have a sex change.
your gender will be my suicide
and then you'll be sorry
you had rights in the first place.
i'll roll around in my own shit
and give everyone a hug
that's what friendship means
that's what i am.
it's london o clock
and i am five feet underground
i haven't seen the light
of day in five countries now
my mother told me everything
i ever needed to know.
don't ever wash your hands sideways.
don't cross the blue street without fucking a hooker first.
black is white
night is day
stalin lives!
i don't like what i like
because i don't like it
teaching is dead.
I'll suck your dick
or die trying
why are you a woman?
take a penny
leave a penny
get fucked and die.
thanks, mom.
August and I
August and I
were walking home
late one summer night
across the bridge
and up the long avenue
we stopped halfway there
at an intersection, in awe
we stood agape
and said "beautiful"
in unison
I turned to him
he was looking at
the gigant industrial structure
the metal playground
illuminated by a thousand lights
I had been looking down the street
down the long avenue
at the endless concrete
stretching into infinity
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