Absurdities

dogggerel poems from 1997


tender flaky all quakey from the git
shell shocked in the wings of a creche male skit
abominated pie crusty digits fiddle with the phone
half a dozen rugrats pitch bricks home alone
window treatment crush polyesters frame bleak trees
chewing charlie brown's kite snaps off in the breeze
and the voice of the social worker says 'please understand'
that suburban life is also very hard on the man

so say your prayers, shave and slick your thighs high
sunmaid raisin buttercup honey bun sweetie pie
flower flavor find milk flip jacks frau freak
and try to think a man's thoughts before you try to speak

   
a lorelei, a lorelei
came bounding from the left
scimitar all shining pant-hooting with her breath
and breathless dropped upon the table
a victim's bag of nuts
and smiled to all "i've beaned a boohab"
to a chorus of "say what?"s

boohaby creature scribbling
in a garrett far away
tossed another magic scroat
to the the hounds at bay.
which bang against his window begging
pay our hunger heed
the creature cackles absently
the mongrels fiercely feed

yellow back radio elohim strings
second generation demiurgically sings
voice to the rooftops vented through the nets
a practical matter for a moment it gets
a creatures name, a silly game with testicle prize
just another alphabet to try on for size
back to eternity...

but wait! what's this, a prayer? a lore, a lie?

   
and bob overlooks
babbling brooks
cascading tresses overhang
dainty hors d'oervres
everything's swell, gang

foriegn intrigues
gone and sinister leagues
harvested once and for all
innocence recouped, its
jaded scenarios' downfall

killing - no perish the thought
living here has brought
neverland reveries
maypole spinning merriment
ostentatious fantasies

plain as day
queer that way
rembering when
stealth was
the only safety
useable because

violence was the trick
when we were all sick
xenophobic
yahoos but today

zinnias.

    
latent autumn in atlanta
chatahoochie on the rise

the cloud formations panting round the track
of trackless skies and curling doubled over blowing back
o'er speckled orange leaves the tint of fanta seas
of gold october mornings bluster
children shiver in a cluster bundled up like honeybees
in flower bonnet blankets blessing
cords of wood stacked for winter nesting

crack of the bats, last doffing of hats complete
retire the sides and ample swinging musclemen go home
no longer racing towards two kingly crowns
while justice reigns all cleved in distant towns
another season ends and festive mugs all chilled with foam
raised to the roof, last quaffing, sign defeat

soon it will be november
what then will we remember?

    
a fine musty staw barn roads away
a pumpkin patch or two
where children ride in wheelbarrows
i reminesce of you

can you recall a year ago
when we had all our charms
and those we trade on weekends now
were always in our arms?

on soggy weeknends dreary
rewind the 8 millimeter
my eyes get fogged and bleary
knowing times were so much sweeter

then, ah then remember when our breakfast was a chore
now coffee dregs and scrambled eggs i eat upon the floor
the table of our dinnertime i simply bear no more
and fast approaching wintertime stocks melancholy's store.

---

adding a millimeter to my 8
i think i'll shoot the kids again, but wait
i gotta think how i can escape
don't wanna get caught on tape

i'm shit i'm shot i'm dead i'm dirt
walking 'round living in a world of hurt
and yet an eye i'm passing by glances
without my past i still got chances
so if i plan my getaway right
and sneak away in the night i might
create myself a brand new world
yeah and maybe a brand new girl

i'm not a crook, just had bad luck
i can't explain so what the fuck
why should i submit to grillin'
when there's still left 4 or 5 billion
in the world who will see
an honest face when they see me

it's not my fault
i didn't want to do it
it's not my fault
gotta go gotta go
it's not my fault
they forced me into it
it's not my fault
gotta go gotta go

   
how can the rhym'd word be dead
so long as we absurd are read?
   
irony's pressing
cyberlife to the printed page flattens
what's hyper here even in text
to flipping sheaves, like autumn leaves
preserved beyond their nature

and what's a pseud without repute
and who persists beyond reboot
and who engages, who is mute
and irl who gives a hoot?

e-male cadaver primly plied
nytrb crit-eyed is dried of wonder
and torn amiss provides no lightning strikes

ahh to be lower-case and whispered pop to pop
to drag and drop a tasty phrase
to while away the working days on aol
to post and wrap
to subtly trap a newbie netter courting praise
about the courtyard coteries
somewhere dot com
yeah that's the bomb

   
a fruited plane to fly upon
way back in steerage class
has nothing more than peanuts

exchanging roles, a dapper don
heads aft to meet the mass
and bridge the gap between us

i put his ruby slippers on
and sucked in freedom's wild gas
now leaving mars for venus

   
and great wumpus cats who said fiddle dee dee
the ring tailed baboon and the texas tea flea
the lemur, the keti, the wombat of course
the orange chinchilla, the three legged horse
all could relate over issues of state
without as much as a whisper of hate
despite the cold calculus of just who got ate