8-word poem

"No wonder
Why
We're going
Down
The tubes."

* * *

—Sgt. Dave Karsnia

8-word poem

Not gay!
Never been gay!
Because he's not!

8-word poem

Morning commute:
Her musty breath
Smelling of shit.

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This much
Is true:
The clock
Is ticking.

Move Over, Kanye!

Dept. of Go Fuck Yourself

8-word poem

The fragility of
Life;
The idea of
Forever.

8-word poem

"Nobody
Puts Baby
In a corner."
No
Body.

8-word poem

It's always about
Everyone's mother,
I have discovered.

8-word poem

So,
Should I know
Who
Foxy Brown
Is?

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Everybody:
Have a good
Relationship,
And that's that!

8-word poem

When you smile
I see stars
And spinach.

ROMMEL DRIVES ON DEEP INTO EGYPT

    —San Francisco Chronicle headline
      June 26, 1942

Rommel is dead.
His army has joined the quicksand legions
of history where the battle is always
a metal echo saluting a rusty shadow.
His tanks are gone.
How's your ass?


Richard Brautigan

iTuneage - recent baker's dozen

1. "Dreamin' Man" - Neil Young
2. "Lonely Women Make Good Lovers" - Bob Luman
3. "Red Cadillac and Black Moustache" - Sultans of Ping
4. "Unbound" - Suzanne Vega
5. "Blue Suede Shoes" - John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band
6. "Peggy Sue Got Married" - Buddy Holly
7. "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers In Your Hair)" - Scott McKenzie
8. "Sixteen Tons" - Tennessee Ernie Ford
9. "Dreams" - The Cranberries
10. "You Can't Stop the Beat" - Hairspray soundtrack
11. "Black River Song" - Angels of Light
12. "Words (Big Mouth)" - Ian Hunter
13. "Sunshine" - Jonathan Edwards

8-word poem

We're after
The same
Rainbow's end.
Let's go.

8-word poem

He wasn't
Just going
To sit around
Waiting.

R.I.P.

Via Ron Silliman's blog, the sad news that poet Liam Rector is dead.

I studied with Liam during my MFA program at The New School. He was a great workshop leader who imparted some of the best advice I have ever gotten about the art of writing - and revising - poetry.

His verbosity was frustrating to those who didn't "get" him, and given his druthers he would follow a tangent to frequently odd and endless lengths.

Yet his soliloquies often led to unexpectedly rich places: the way he told the story of Ezra Pound calling on William Butler Yeats while wearing green pants made from pool table felt was both priceless and revelatory.

I posted this back in August of 2005:

What does
A poem say?
My heart aches.

* * *

For Liam Rector

8-word poem

What
Is with this
Harry Potter shit,
Anyway?

Slipshod Sonnet #4

Are the right people winning?
Can I get your witness?
Is time remaining?
Do you love it?
Has the whole world gone mad?
Is it not?
Did you hear what he did to whom?
Are you lonesome tonight?
Do these pants make me look fate?
Are you sincere?
Will you still hate me tomorrow?
What's it got to do with love?
Did it all work out in the end?
Can you learn to love it?

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I have questions
And concerns,
But smart lips.

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My work ended
Not in failure
But disaster.

* * *

Inspired by The Return of Doctor X.

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You can
Stop the beat,
Actually.
Trust me.

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No need
To seek
Hypocrisy—
It finds
You.

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There's something
Out there
(There's nothing
Out there).

What a day!

Remember that episode of The Abbott & Costello Show — surely one of the most surreal programs ever on television — wherein Bud and Lou have a party to celebrate Costello's birthday? And Lou serves his famous antipasto, which turns out to be ant paste?

It's like that. Only without the ant paste.

Walking down 8th Avenue today (for the trifecta of 8s, naturally), I passed by a White Castle/Church's Chicken, where they don't let you in unless you've got oozing needle marks on your arms.

Saw a young girl, eerily reminiscent of Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver, toting a suitcase alongside her father/"uncle"/john/pimp.

Skeletal but natty old guy sitting on a stoop: Cuban heels, stylish but worn slacks, purple rose forearm tat and sunglasses with one lens cracked (hello future me!).

Sudden thought: why are there not euthanasia way stations sprinkled throughout the city? I saw many missed opportunities for municipal revenue on this one jaunt.

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Another year
Flies off
The calendar,
Another arrives.

08/08

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If you're enjoying
Curly Sue
You'll love
Zardoz.

* * *

For Todd Pharris.

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Live and learn.
Or not.
That's my story.

8-word poem: THE WENDY'S STORY

And
I want it
To sizzle.
That's right.

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As my tattoos
Have faded,
My eyesight
Also.

8-word poem

Dreaming
Of mechanical arms
Stealing your shit
Again.

8-word poem

Who
Do you think
You are,
And why?

8-word poem

Incredulity:
It's the first step
Toward
Giving up.

8-word poem

One
Needs to be
Talented—
But not
Afraid.