Monday, February 23, 2015

Kangaroo

no quarter will be given
when the stripes become scars
and scars just another stripe
when the listless anxieties
are paths traced in the fading rug
there will be no quarter given
when, sun beaten and wet backed,
the spiteful heels of half forgotten sorrow
return the weak to that self-same drift
into the curtain of diminishing hope
we call the horizon
there will be no quarter given
the meek will inherit the earth
and
this
will
be
their
final

punishment

It's OK, Everything Checked Out

Although I have done many things
my family would not be proud of,
soliciting a prostitute is not among them,
and of this fact, I have mixed feelings.
As a poet, I am aware
that I may not be doing all that is expected of me.
But my gap in work history
is not the manifestation
of deep-seeded hubris
or moral posturing.
I simply lack sufficient training
as there has yet to be
any definitive body of work
on the proper etiquette of such services.
I.E.,
What does one do
while the aforementioned prostitute
puts his or her clothes back on?
Do you watch in silence,
or lay in bed
and talk nice about the weather?
Do you tip?
Do you give a prostitute
a good night hug?
To these questions and more
I propose a swift resolution
as to the standards of practice,
and to this end
I met a viable candidate
just this morning.
For after the doctor
removed his finger from my rectum
and threw away the gloves,
he sat stone-faced and cross-legged,
the consummate professional,
while I rather shamefully
pulled up my pants,
tucked in my shirt,
and with lubricant
still running down my leg,
transitioned seamlessly
into the next order of business.

Awaiting your response,
Senor Shucks Pigknuckles,
Professional Consultant Extraordinaire

To the man who...

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Tuesday, October 29, 2013

DO_NOT_REPLY

blinking bulbs shifting floors
traffic hums obscenity
smoke break at the end of the hour,
meeting at the water cooler in five.
apologies for lunch.
and while my skin has never held much comfort,
the bench marked
DESIGNATED SMOKING AREA
gives a sense of place.
outside sprinklers make grass green
inside sprinklers put out fires
something to own
a day logged and filed accordingly
MEMO:
I AM ONLY WILLING TO ADMIT BLAME
IF I CAN BE ABSOLVED OF BLAME
please respond
something to be said
something to be unsaid
difference between them
outside sprinklers work on schedule
inside sprinklers untested
agenda, oct. 19:
DON'TFUCKUPDON'TFUCKUPDON'T...
agenda, oct. 20:
...FUCKUPDON'TFUCKUPDON'TFUCK...
agenda, oct. 21:
...UPDON'TFUCKUPDON'TFUCKUP...
agenda, oct. 22:
(entry deleted)
FROM: DO_NOT_REPLY
SUBJECT: DELIVERY FAILED
ORIGINAL MESSAGE: i am sorry i am sorry i am

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

homeskooled )q.e.d.)


Johnny asked a question
   his momma couldn't answer
  billy popped a pill
he knew he couldn't handle
   then the dog got hit
 runnin' the street
that boy limped home
    and he got him a treat
so i woke up late
    and left my bed unmade
 so I could come home
     and sleep again
some love too much
      others too little
both
    snip
       and
           clip
 what held
        most tender
  cause the lesson
           done took
much more
    than it gave
so see
  i dig me
   some shallow graves

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

mr speaker



let's bend the bracket
and roll it towards
some misplaced comma,
an escape to make in these
harsh sentences,
we can give ourselves
space to breathe
while we let out the seams
growing fat and old
and joyous in our
predetermined defeat

let's bend the bracket,
those quaint little cubes
at the chopping block
of time where hours
are portioned out
to a 40-hour/week
combo-meal served fast
while driving the distance
between here-nor-there
only to stall out midway
in midday traffic jams

it's true what we heard,
I have charted the holes
in the landscape
tailor-cut for each shape,
yes a hole for everyone:
they get squeezed into ink,
the existence of the capital I
the finality of the period

let's bend the bracket
into a parentheses--
we can live as afterthoughts
in the grand scheme of things,
commentary to history
and footnotes to progress
where one might stand
a hand on his head
and beg mr speaker
consider us,
his two counter-points

let's bend the bracket
and define the space
where we smoke
the obligatory cigarette
and say it's not you
it's not about me
it's about Them
it's them that's the problem

it's true what we were told,
people speak there,
digging eloquent graves
to lay their desires in
packed and parceled
and distilled as they were;
they would make mummies
of us if we let them

let's bend the bracket,
we can trash the yard
and claim it as a step
towards revitalizing
the neighborhood;
we can whitewash stop-signs
to protest the laws
made against motion;
we can be the blight
to the whole block

so come

I have a curb to sit on
and a boombox that plays
just one beat
too loud
for all eternity

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Theogony

Transubstantiate
the unsubstantiated
and bend to receive
the miracle--
you are the wood
I beat into paper
the paper I stain to word
the word I make law
the law I sinew flesh
and the flesh
I petrify back into wood.