My mother
and her husband
are talking
to a married couple
from Wisconsin
probably the same age
They describe themselves
as nice
but very stupid
and have been
on a number
of cruises before
one which involved
a suicide
Apparently it
was an Irishman
An early morning
around 3 AM
he jumped overboard
with his suitcase
and into the darkness
he disappeared
But the Irishman
had left behind
a £ 1,000 tip
just to...
2 shots of Pfizer and I’m hung over
I walk
like I’m in waves in the ocean
that are swaying me all around
this vaccination
is a disease unto itself
my wife has a high temperature
I’m as loopy as a lifesaver
crunch on a red one, there goes my brain
and I’m getting so tired...
so tired...
not a...
I start the day
like the last one ended
head in hand
on pillow
words fighting their way out—
all sterile-sentiment-sap
love and longing
more or less
everything
you despise
you tune me a
broken wind chime
or a crack girl puffing your pipe
hanging on like tools in rows
it's tight seal friction, baby
Delete
me
&
all
my
kind be
fore I motor
cycle fuck your
mind
offer up
one of your
all...
always question the avatar
if it is actually a representation
it is likely modified
no one really likes how they look
and if they tell you they do
they're either lying or a sociopath
however there does exist the breed
that gives no fucks
and as you get older you can slip
into this slot
it is the best...
It was a strange sermon.
Most adults were nodding
in deference,
some with fatigue.
I didn’t get it, until I got home
and heard a different version
watching Popeye on Sunday
morning cartoon shows.
Exodus 3:14, KJV: "And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children...
this woman on the radio
was just talking about the glory of God
she said heaven opened up and she could hear music playing
today the sink smells like puke
and the lighting is worse
I'm not doing anything about it either
and I'm too sick and broke to get outta here
why can't I reach...
Establishing my negative credentials.
I curse at work, to myself, but loud enough
for everyone to notice. I make fun of ridiculous
rules and sneer at the company dogs I'm
surrounded by.
By implication I mean everyone, because when
I make enemies, I do it whole. And there's something in me
that needs to flush everything...
the thin film of my mouth
on your cunt
in a half-mile high toilet
just to keep us going
through an invisible
security corridor from west to east
notes of golden brown
play easily
as we fuck each other
over
and land in Berlin Templehof
1986
the airport border guards check
that i'm some
Persian-Irish renegade
and you're
my Meinhof-Dansk trophy
halfway between Mujāhid-IRA
and Danish Anarcho-Syndicalist
that's...
while I waited for a
connecting flight
in the Lisbon airport
I found myself seated opposite
an elderly man in a red hat
bearing, in bold script
Hot Stuff
he looked a bit timid
air puffs
foot shuffles
the man’s eyes
widened
his lady returned
from the loo
she smiled coyishly
at seated onlookers
eyebrow raised
yes, it’s true
Always live in regret.
The past is ever present.
There are no new days; you are the same person you were before.
Believe that today will be no better than yesterday. It’s about looking down with despair
and looking backward.
Don't look for new opportunities
that the Almighty has planned for you.
Hardship disheartens,
and does not...
“So how do we get their attention?” said Eduardo.
“I’m not sure,” said Darrius. “We tacked up fliers at the university, and I told everyone in my creative writing class. You did, too—right?”
“I did.”
Eduardo and Darrius sat for some time in silence, passing a joint back and forth.
“Why do you...
blue jays build a nest in the pine,
swallows migrate overhead,
wren in and out of the compost,
centipede in beak
behind the fence
children screech,
entitled neighbours
don’t distance from friends,
posture, to sear game meat
drink, smoke, snort
we sip coffee
in the comfort of
inverse snobbery,
snicker
that their RV is worth more
than our house and contents,
exchange snide
whispers,
our quiet, spoiled
from...
Dr. Seuss' 1st book,
"A Pocket Book of Boners,"
published in 1941,
was a collection
of 4 books, the first 3
copyrighted in 1931:
"Boners," "More Boners,"
"Still More Boners" &
"Prize Boners for 1932."
Boners back then
were silly mistakes,
not erections. Some
of my boners
have been silly mistakes.
Lance, I'd like you to meet Dick Dick.
Ah...pleasure to meet you, Mr. Dick.
The pleasure is mine. Call me Dick.
Dick...yes, of course...Dick.
I understand you're a writer.
Well, I dabble.
I see, most impressive. I'm a dick.
Pardon?
A private eye, a gumshoe: a dick.
Oh! Interesting job!
It pays the bills. Ah...here comes Mrs. Dick...
Dick darling,...
Wife smoked and drank hard cider
while I got another headache on a
smoggy sunday afternoon with the
neighbors’ children screaming and
banging on the wall. And the tape
recorder had to be returned for
warranty work because it was fucked
up and wife’s Smith Corona typewriter
was fucked up also again because
everything we buy turns out...
so anyway
the students were hoping
the prof would be stoned
he was
julie waznowski?
“here”
julie, do you write poetry
while smoking pot?
“I don’t know what to say”
pass your sample poems
to the front
mark wimple!
“here”
mark, does your mother
shave her pussy?
“I don’t know what to say
either”
pass your poems
to the front
but I doubt you will be
admitted
sandra beach!
“here”
sandra, could...
Ten minutes into this interview, and my frayed sleeve
is on full display,
but not in a good way
definitely not a hey, sailor-ish way,
more, she has to stretch 50 dollars over 10 days.
you raise your eyes and give a
soft clearing of your throat,
and if I were a New Orleans seagull,
I would...
"yeah, i don't know why they don't
legalize this stuff," karsten said.
i watched the thick plume of smoke
snake up out of his joint
and collect at the top of the ceiling
"yeah," i said
"it's like, can you imagine
if they made alcohol illegal
again
like they should, cuz the stuff is
way more lethal
than weed"
"it is,"...
I once tried to kick in the screen
of a 21” color tv wearing
my Tony Lama shit kickers.
The boot’s heel & slick sole
slid off the smooth glass
like I was dancing a one legged
boot scootin’ shuffle.
I was drunk on my ass
on the Saltillo tile floor.
He was Loathing in Las Vegas.
Elvis, the undercover,...
After waking up from a four
day binge of alcohol, hash,
pills, I found myself lying
next to a woman I didn’t
love, though she said that
she loved me,
the woman I loved had
marched out of my world:
beside the bed, the floor
was cluttered with empty
wine bottles, over-flowing
ashtrays, take-out-food
cartons, plates of
rotting food and the
interest of...
Everything shines brighter in Heather’s hell
with piercing visions of uncomfortable truths.
Old MacDonald still has a farm
because society requires sustenance.
No one wants to do the work
to produce it, margins being slim to none.
Popeye cigarette sugar sticks
were the addictive co-conspirator
of Cousin Tobacco.
All love songs are children
born of apology
for exquisite romantic error.
Children...
My virginity is still lost somewhere in Athens, Greece.
After serving my hippie time
for marijuana possession
I admit I was happy that prisons exist.
I didn’t need rehabilitation then
like so many of those assholes.
I must have driven drunk a thousand times
after my military discharge
without getting a DUI.
A cop in Phoenix in the...
In a park
near my home
some big fucker
who didn’t like
my face,
took a swing at me.
I blocked
his right hand
with my left
& by chance
my Tiparillo cigar
smashed into his nose
before he
could land
a punch.
It happened
so quickly
all I remember
are the sparks
& his screams
as I ran away.
I’m gonna tell everyone
my Facebook got hacked.
It isn’t true. It’s easier
when trying to surgically remove
family members and fake friends
like fake news.
Social media has been to me
like a dermoid cyst, with its teeth
and nails and lanugo-like fine hairs,
no heartbeat or facial features.
A deformed doll
I should have discarded years ago.
The truth
is...
Today I found them
by chance and re-read them:
he tells me
it’s because of the drink that
he is in jail and that he is
going to stop when he gets
released and he is never
going to drink again and
that he misses me and asks
me to look after ma:
he writes
he is sorry and regretful
and...
I am ashamed of my schism,
my contortionist brain and tongue.
Told status is a ticket to love.
Take hurried notes on how
to be righteous.
Worship Satan at my school.
Eat full-metal propaganda.
I should be enough–one day.
I am a contradiction.
Confess on knee through a beehive
covering your honeycomb profile,
tell the truth
about wearing the Devil's cotton...
The fret’s returned
soon the windows
will need
to be cleaned again
to wash off
all the limescale
and bird shit
We’ve ended up
flicking from channel
to channel
avoiding
the Third Reich’s
home movies
and a programme
about some thespian
on the hunt
for a brand new cock
On one channel
a strumpet
with her right hand
pleasures a gaoler
while the inmates giggle
to themselves
the harlot sighs
with resigned desperation
a...
I
a good talking to
a man sees his reflection
in the still water
this is how you look
to others
a fish jumps
this is how you look
when you talk
to yourself
you crazy motherfucker
II
comeuppance
a man takes himself out
behind the woodshed
cuts a switch
from the peach tree
that he planted
to attract the girls
& shouts, so you think
you are so smart
III
a...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9MH6c3h2k4
Worrying about doing a poetry reading at Barnes & Noble
I don't know if the guy sitting next to me
heard me try to apologize for accidentally
moving his car magazines and taking his spot
obnoxious hrrr of the espresso machine
I had to talk over one at the books a million reading
with Dennis who showed...
the neighbors are setting off fireworks
the sky is farting national pride
only it’s like the civil war
it looks and feels like they’re firing them at each other
my cat is scared under the couch
the air tastes like sulfur
the trees are blocking any view that might be pretty
and they just keep going...
‘Number three all over my friend’
for which he’ll charge me £9.50
It’s been a few months
since the last haircut
One of the other barbers says
‘Oh fuck look at this!
He’s put his knob in a cow’s mouth’
Some film on his phone
‘Honestly’
says the chap
cutting my hair
‘He showed me a woman
blowing a horse’s cock...
I can't take this
stuck, covid 19
not a store open
to buy something
inessential
(which are the best things to buy)
I've gone to corona hell and I don't even have the virus
which could be my next circle of covid hades
the gas station slot machine
keeps taking my money because it's the only thing to...
I listened to a lousy radio station
demand money as I drove home from work
yesterday and the sales pitch was worse
than any advertisement.
Some amateur disc jockey bitch
nagged me with a mother's whine,
the kind of sound old girlfriends make
immediately prior to being dumped.
I listened to her anguish and I cringed.
Then her...
reading Leonard Cohen
by candlelight,
visualizing
bonfire night,
your birthday
were you still alive
under that streetlamp,
we could walk together
to your bench
and talk awhile
it’s what we always did best—
just talk, just care
I’ll print this poem
in a lonely font
and burn it
in a bowl,
set the ashes facing east
next time it storms
