Return to Form
Return to Form
by shawn misener
you thought of jerking off to faces of death
and instead chose to paint murals at the old folks home
next to the jello factory
you burnt all of your books and proceeded to read them
as smoke signals with a jiggly-wiggly backdrop
coughing up absurd literary devices
there were wise men descending from heavy Lansing clouds
and you rushed to their rescue
strategically placing memory foam mattresses in their paths
even though you were sloshed with incredible debt
the dreams were beginning to gel into reality
and you pushed them back into sleep
where they hung onto sticky maple branches
with neon green and orange bungee cords
(the naked models and presidential candidates and dead grandparents)
they all waited for your ok
your go ahead
and you never gave it
so reality crushed you under it’s cushy elephant toe
your last words weren’t words at all
they were scraggly notes from a constricted set of vocal chords:
a haunted off-key moonlight sonata rising from the dirt
slipping up and around the humidity
and back to the night which gave birth to your first prayers
i actually felt guilty after reading this…cause the poem addresses the reader and some of the accusations levelled i felt responsible in some between real and imaginary way.
“you thought of jerking off to faces of death”…ok, not this one, but hey, wondrous first line grabber…i’ve heard of ‘faces of death’ but not seen one yet.
Dream imagery top-notch, sir. A lot of action too! I feel crushed under reality with it’s elephant republican toes—i can identify with that. ..and have been sloshed with incredible debt…and just sloshed trying to forget.
GOVERNMENT BAILOUT! may be in order… for the subject of poem … which maybe some unsuspecting readers… not Halifax though, something tells me he’s astute with the exchequer and the babes…
Anyway, let me know how i can atone for this feeling of wrongdoing i have now. {Aside from going to see Keanu in ‘The Day the Earth stood still’ [good Happy Holidays flick from what i hear]. (i’m still waiting for “The 12 Days of Zombie X-mas”)…
Goeth the tax man for me as well.