Friday, September 18, 2009

the unexplainable man: from an old notebook





i was born in the wind
and my brains
blow all over the city

throw a mouse
out the window
into the fog

endless waves
all crashing
all keeping their secret

some cheese always sticks
to the wrappers
enough to feed -

picking up the paper cups
and straws and napkins
with delicate, birdlike precision

america
not so bad
better than manila, man

how did it happen
who did what to me
i didn't do nothing

can't hear the voices
can't hear the silence
only hear the sirens

a mother cloud
and five fluffy
baby clouds

open mouths
slobbering mouths
say what

automatic teller
unblinking sentinel
scrape of a duffel bag

the wind stirs
the paper cups
at midnight

baby sparrow
tiny hops
ripped garbage bag collapses

i would never never never never
never
call elvis a bluesman

i'm not putting him
down
you understand

grab him by the throat
throw him down
the broken escalator

tell you something
what to eat
is out on bail

they've got beautiful shops
very modern
it's just a modern town



3 comments:

Mariana Soffer said...

Very nice poetry, and I like the image to. I was thinking about this obsession we have about being modern and having the latest technology. What is the importance of that?

Jon said...

damn... just damn...

I've gotta say that I like the pace of this piece... the two and three word lines and the way that cuts the language up... so precise but so unsatisfactory but so soothing too...

especially like the walk into " five fluffy baby clouds"

perfect line break there...

This is just to say... I like this poem a lot!

Finding a link to some words i was working a while ago to... especially with the duffel bag... check it out:

LINK

Harlequin said...

marvelous; all I kept thinking was the ebb and flow of haves and have nots... great flow and imagery