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GUERILLA WAR
I
live in the poetic hinterlands
no-man's lands bad lands borders
of poets skipping showers and polishing
bullets with copies of the Missori Review
I let my beard grow for I own a pen
but not a razor
They don't suspect as I move in
camouflaged in inexperience and haiku
preparing my all-out assault from the forest
to the well-established city
I lay down a pattern of fire
hoping to take out a Collins or two
and perhaps even wounding a Pinsky or a Dove
but all I do is graze
an Esworthy a Hoover or a Roddy
so I decide on a bombing tactic involving
subscribers to Poets and Writers magazine
but the damn things go off in my car
covering me with sonnets villanelles pantooms
other poets' words yuk!
brushing them off I decide
to try an assault
on Mary Oliver's house
but she's out in the woods somewhere
writing about natural stuff
I end up blowing up Hemingway's memorial
in the Florida keys
which no one went to anyway
I'm down to my last Bowie knife
I'm eating Vienna Sausages in my cave
and my neighbors are into some
Bukowski imitation of working
in the post office and writing on the backs
of already mailed envelopes now
I'm forging uneasy alliances with other poets
who normally don't speak to me
stevenallenmay fredrico etc etc
We plan a suicide attack to seize
a valuable commodity
Maya Angelou's hands!
We want our names in one billion copies of
The Best Poetry of 2002 or we'll slice
Maya's fingers off!!!
That would leave her unable to write
Unless she has one of those voice-activated
computer terminals
I didn't think of that
So I'm in a dirty cell
and my cellmate keeps telling me how
he used to be published all over the place
before
they invented free verse.
JUST SAY FUCK
you
say the word fuck like it's an inconvenience
you say the word fuck like it hurts your sides
you say fuck like it's a curse
you say fuck like it's contagious
say the word fuck as if it's holy
say the word fuck as if you want to
say it c'mon say it like it's all you want
isn't it?
just say it
just say fuck
say the word like it's coffee
washing your breakfast down
say the word like you found a $20 bill
and felt the other guys pain
before you spent it
say the word like you have a reason
say the word fuck like you're happy
you say the word fuck like it hurts your teeth
you say fuck like you already have a headache
say the word fuck like it's holy
say it like you mean it
o fuck what the fuck fuck it fuck him fuck her
fucked up beyond all recognition
this is fucked
o shit i'm fucked
say the word fuck like you mean it
say the word fuck like you squeeze it
say the word fuck like you bleed it
say the word shout the word like you feel it
say the word fuck like you see it
holy fuck!
say the word fuck like you mean it!
work it one, two move your jaws fuckfuckfuck three,
four
open the door
say the word fuck like you want it!
say the word
as if you're happy
say the word fuck like it's a sacrament
say the word fuck as if it will cleanse your mouth
like your mother cleaned your mouth with soap
and left that 99 and 44/100% pure taste
of Ivory there
because of the first time
you tried saying fuck
in front of her
savor the word like it was wine or beer
or cum
or spit
or some other naturally occurring cleanser
scrub off the talk of assholes who cut you off in
traffic with the holy fuck
just say the word fuck like you mean it!
say the word fuck like you feel it!
say the word fuck like you touch it!
say the word fuck like it's holy!
say the word fuck like you mean it
not like you don't want anyone to hear you
say the word fuck like you need it!
say the word fuck like you truly absolutely
mean it!
like it's holy
like it's milk
like today you're happy and tomorrow you might be
fucked
Rich Hemmings (sometimes the Vortex) was born in New
York City.
He has been writing for 25 years, and has been
published in Nimbus, A Year of Voices, Experimental
Forest, and The Edge.
(The Edge is a local mag with a NYC connection, it
is not the Ledge misspelled.) He appears on the Mouthy
Men cd and co-hosts two readings in the York, PA area.
He loves all kinds of poetic
expression. |