Skirmishers

Sitting out in the open
on an undefended park bench
I was pretending to read
Lucien Zell's The Salmon Cafe.

Really tho, I had stuffed
another novel inside
its paperback covers.

This one was one of my own.

I am determined that nobody should read it but me.

At least, if I can help it,
for the next one thousand years, or so.

Beneath the Bear

Old light, tired light,
alright, I brought
the rain, pour out my
soul, bear rips open
heart from chest and I,
bedraggled, not reading
in that poetry voice but
from that voice in my head/
heart, audience isn't there,
it's like every trip fantasty
I've ever had,
ther is no individual reality
in a reality entirely individual,
the bear roars to heaven,
I worry about the tone of
my voice, the whine, I
grab my hat, act it out,
it's damp inside, raining out,
I've gotten through seven pages,
I've said my piece, I
leave without saying thanks.

Gigantic Sequins reading 4/7/14

Preserved for posterity

Admonishment

Read I've Shouted... without
realizing it was only three
quarters typed out, last 3 pages
made a lot of sense for the overall
theme, but I guess it was
unnecessary
for the reading, or maybe
that's me making
excuses for fucking up,
who knows probably is
I won't say, but it sits on my
conscious now, I can't shake it,
like something undone, or a word
I can't quite grasp tho I know the
damn meaning I want and need
oh well, I say I'm saying I'm telling
get'em next time make sure it goes smooth
make sure you type the fucking thing out
quit giving in early up early
take fucking notes.

Bear Poems

tearing your heart out
frozen in place
damp air damp legs
you wobble you teeter
growling at some unknown pain
a phantom of the ceiling fall
or can you see outside,
I know, you're life-sized
but off, the mass isn't there,
the bulk, silent roar mouth ends
teeth sharp, amp behind you,
microphone, you won't need it,
I'll speak for you, if that's allowed,
you haven't moved, there's a gash
there's a roll, there's words,

what are you doing out here,
in the cold?