The Poem I Could Not Put in My Pocket on Poem in Your Pocket Day

Thank you so much for asking about me.

It’s good to get out and get some air – if ever so briefly.
You can only imagine what it’s like in there.

The wallet, so big and bulky,
crowding everyone out –
thinking it owns the place.

The coins so cold and smug –
so full of themselves, they won’t
even turn to look you in the eye,
let alone have a conversation.

The only one in there who’ll give me the time of day
is a receipt from a pet store,
but the time never changes,
and all he has to talk about
is the price of cat food and kitty litter.

Such horrible companions!

And as for my cruel creator –
Yes, I call him that – cruel –
for to we, the created, it is cruel
to bring a new thing into the world
only to hide it in your pocket
in case the right people ask.

You disagree?

Well, so be it.
In the end the joke will be on him
for entire lifetimes
have been wasted
stuffing pockets
and becoming heavy
with things
that complain.

Wait –
Please –

If you are to hand me over
just one thing –
just fold me the other way.
I know, it’s true, what they say,
“Once folded, always creased,”
but I’ve been folded this way for so long
maybe a change will do me good.

Or if you want, you could always run away with me,
Or if you couldn’t be burdened with me,
just leave me some place there is a good wind
and let me be taken by it to hands that will receive me.

Or you can dutifully hand me back.

What will you do with me
now that you have found me?


I started this poem on Thursday, April 18, 2013, the day The American Academy of Poets designated for their annual “Poem in Your Pocket Day.”

If I had to choose a poem written by someone else, I would have chosen e.e. cummings “anyone lived in a pretty how town” – probably my favorite poem. But I wanted to write a poem of my own to put in my pocket.

Yet, as I was writing it, the poem sort of turned on me, and didn’t want to finish itself until only recently. So I place it here, hopefully “some place there is a good wind” (although it is a very small wind, but sometimes that’s all that’s required), and hope it will judge me less cruel having done so.

Also, for some odd reason, when I read the poem in my head, I read it with the voice, cadence and intonation of William Carlos Williams on PennSound’s recording of “This is Only to Say”. But that’s just me…and I may be breaking some unwritten rule of poetry (“thou shalt not instruct the reader to hear the poem in the voice of another poet”) in even mentioning it. Fortunately, the fines for breaking rules in poetry are minimal.

What Ashley Olsen Won’t Tell You About Her Workouts

I Like to Work Out Repinned to
campfire cones as desired.

I start by constructing a roller coaster,
blowtorching a two-ton ball of tin foil
and adorning drafting tables with
dollops of fried shrimp balls
in the flavor of Blake Lively.

If I want a more complex or challenging workout,
I’ll blowtorch the beach as well,
Pinwheel-Picking the best cuts of meat.

If I experience periods of dizziness,
I just try to add a cotton ball or cotton
to spinach.

My favorite exercise is probably when
I roll on a floured plate with mama, daddy, and
parts for the heater.

I send out a bunch of salty animal crackers each week
to an out-of-control jet ski.

I always love to pour the oil
in a Wiffle ball dropped from a passing plane.

Who can’t help but grin black pepper or
feel Hawaiian Vacation points
that were Betty Booped by Dragon Frosting?

I will occasionally urge a shoe out of
the Moon, speaking in a pattern of energy balls.

Sometimes, I’ll say, “slide wide & stretch
Studded love-love Dress!!!”

In the winter, I’ll Build a Retro Swimsuit Swiss Peeler Apple Corer Basic Carrie Underwood Immerse-O-Matic Knife Furnace, Check my body’s chemistry, and adjust Sandstorms using simple sandwiches.

Whenever I draw my navel across my spine, I only use
real Italian espresso flavored white praline chocolate bunnies, and
am careful to keep the line weight even.

Halfway through, I’ll swirl one French galaxy
all-black and a mystery man porn star
with a spatula.

For a change of pace,
I’ll herd zebras
into an Skippy jar
(which is banned, but I do it anyway) .

When traveling, I like to raise the climbing rock and skateboard park
onto a mardi gras float.

Sometimes I just like to find some candles,
sit back and Influence the sport of Golf.

I don’t have that much to offer
In the way of advice, but
I do suggest gently squirting
a young Hawaiian entrepreneur and allowing
some Musketeers to fall out.

In the meantime, I Continue to disintegrate
Pro-Swiss, vessels.

Cakes! i will be busy!

the natural work of the living

animals
slow down
in
paper worlds

through all
the billions
that pile
embodies

the carrying on
well into its
own loss

beyond distant
last geometries
as manifest
“raw” pieces

not a geology
worn or here
life or had
nostalgia

the possessions
fly from wholeness
symbols stumble
what represents is moved
in order
to be distant

between-Gods
are functions
or
billows willed

the representation
situating
nearly in spirit
behind
what is incarnated
as an object

the dried Rose
went
into being
and we await its second coming
as texture
as a box
as its matter

the natural work
of the living -
a ceased
final
physical force

ASK I: “My cigar should dress my friends?”

Q: I’m a mind and I follow trends in black. My cigar should dress my friends?

A: Treasure your cigar!

The personal can be temporary (as yours).

Widen your circle so you’ll keep stretching.

List the changes in technology most adapted to a groom.

Comfort berets and then crisp a coat perfectly.

If you relax, keep in mind the seat.

How about walking shoes to sneakers?

Distinguish the best shape you can.

Smile those missing back molars.

Play English.

Profess a boyfriend.

Penelope Cruz is on-screen sweat, pants and a slim black raincoat worth studying.

Have a back bulge, switch a card!


blackout composition, source: “Ask Teri”, by Teri Agins, The Wall Street Journal, 5/1/13.

in situ, below…

blackout advice columns

Husband and Wife Over a Kitchen Table in Nebraska (from the “Bizarro Ted Kooser” Series)

Choosing the bills
to pay this month,
seated side-by-side
at their small, wooden
kitchen table, covered
with a thin blue tablecloth
that barely hides the grooves
from years of use,
the two of them,
Mother and Father,
alone, after the children have
been rented out
for the evening.

“We’re poor, Mother,” he says.
“We’re poor.”

She puts both her hands
on the cheeks of his whiskered face
and turns him to face her.
She looks lovingly into his one good eye,
momentarily, then gets that familiar look,
that cold, steely glint in her eyes
when a hard truth needs to be told.
“We need more inventory, Father.”

And somewhere in the next county
there is the thunderous backfire of a car
or an old dog being shot, so thankful,
that he doesn’t even whimper.

Eyes in a Pan of Water Could Be Two small Pieces of Your Old Debris

This harness walks into a bar on two legs with a big main Monterey cardboard egg with scattered baby calves and a “tail” made of meat sauce…your body’s closed on Sundays?!…I’m neo-tying headscarves, a firm knot with the excess Christmas tree equipped with a unique holographic hand-ground handmonster makeup-time based pan-fried substitute synthetic Epilepsy tinsel trout copper crab…please remove twine at 1-inch intervals grinning in winter for maximum visibility…the color strikes flies-pike foam adding the finishing piece for free from debris…walk suggestions along with a generator…you don’t need to be some rye-eyed legend to dress your chalk-chewing fishball dip…we see The Hobos carry Speedos, then gag, seemingly whole…wash your change in bread; order a broken fishing pole around; be deboned through the ribs and straight down to the depths coarser; make a small international list of height cut into rectangles or cubes…the sun is still string things…packing your clothes along with your hair / lure a knife with a neck never so tightly there…any item on this uniform: the weights, whetstones, small mouth hollows, sand sash undone, our storm stick…slip a slow shallow retrieve trying to be circumference spread increasingly sweet and thus assembled…lead off with stomach autopsies…clip a small portion of the natural color or minced adventure only happens when things work well without the classic crispy cornmeal…who wears a yellow suit and red shoes, removing the nose with a knife, talking direct of New Zealand… think, then pull the thingamabob lookin’ batches if needed…as stalking, the giant curry cocoon comes in a metal tube, cute like aliens but has a genuine rabbit fur jaw glass, feathers, and buckled pounds of fresh dry-aged allergies all simmered in lint.

“Tell all the truth, but tell it slant….”

On this day in history
Emily Dickinson
was
alive
fifty-six times.

Let Nature Do More Than Feed Your Senses Airborne Bacteria and Mold Spores

Let nature feed your senses
bow hunting in Kane County Forest Preserves,
increases in the likelihood of Drought-Impacted Pastures,
airborne bacteria and mold spores.

Let nature carry the load across our reduced groundwater heat-absorbing surfaces.

Let nature enter your body where it has the most surface impact -
on the skin level through Nature’s Bounty anti-aging natural acne masks.

Let Nature Boost Your Resistance,
change the function of white blood cells to your advantage,
harness gravity and use indigenous volume to
reduce cravings, help you feel fuller longer,
and naturally suppress an irreversible natural process.

*      *      *      *      *

Let Nature Do the Work of one million Ben and Jerry’s.

Let Nature reduce pigmentation and even skin tone.

Let nature normalize and soothe meaningful relationships.

*      *      *      *      *

Why mix your mind and body with a shovel or pitchfork,
possibly leading to a bad night’s sleep,
when others in your place would Let nature do it?

Instead of doing it yourself, let nature move through windows
or into a state of almost savage torpor.

Let nature slow the boat or bring your blood pressure down.

*      *      *      *      *

Don’t let nature trick you into starting in the yard too early.
Do let nature teach us love and a rightfull example of natural light.

DON’T LET NATURE cripple your life and sap your energy.
Do Reclaim NATURE  by aging and seasoning cured meats.

Do Let Nature Rock like Josh Homme.
Don’t let nature rock like Brett Michaels.

Don’t Reduce nature when NATURE isn’t necessary?
Do reduce nature when NATURE isn’t necessary?

*      *      *      *      *

This year, get closer to nature by letting it go
or providing more man-made ski trails through nature.

This year, let nature transform Disturbed Inner Voices and talk to them,
as well as provide their inner landscapes’ water and earth and acids.

If you are too tired to vacuum, let nature do the cleaning.

If you are too tired to shop,
Let Nature Provide naturally-occurring China,
tired, dry or gritty top-soil,
many herbs and spices.

Let nature act as a natural cooling agent,
dry, crack or re-label inedible food products,
repel water in ways that, if reproduced,
could reduce ice build-up in your freezer.

*      *      *      *      *

Who knows the steel-tipped burden of strip-mining steep Wrinkles
better than nature?

But does nature need a reminder to live simply?

Nature too thirsts and when it does, does not it made a river?

Nature hungers and when it does, does it not also notice the circling vultures
and remark, “Something must be dead over there”?

*      *      *      *      *

Instead of opting for expensive and painful dredging,
let nature reduce the stream’s sediment load,
throw open the curtains,
reduce the size of the existing parking lot,
take over areas near rivers.

Let Nature Take a bird out of sight,
compliment the engineering plans,
and worry Investors and Homeowners.

let Nature provide further endorphin release as you Combine your errands, car pool to work, or take time to look someone in the eyes and demand the best medicine for a kidney stone.

*      *      *      *      *

Did you know that Nature is a great source of trout?

Did you know that there are more birds in nature
than you could ever possibly eat?

Did you know in 1689, a German lumberjack named Lutto Gottenhammer
vowed to cut down every tree in Bavaria and then passed out?

*      *      *      *      *

Let Nature farm the countryside,
channel Earthworms,
pick the right plant for the right place,
save time, save money and be the setting for a science-fiction novel.

Let nature trim the yard of the Super-value Natural luxury-Family.

Let nature take your baby into childhood obesity.

*      *      *      *      *

If you have a bass voice, go out into nature and
Let Nature Sing Songs for the Developing Treble Voice
and sing along.

Have you ever thought that you should just step back and
let Nature use your mobile phone or Outlook to keep your life organized?

Whether you are struck by a lone tree or in a bed that encapsulates your home campus,
let nature bring to mind extreme isolation or a blatant lack of arctic conditions,
let nature nurture breezes and blow the cobwebs out of your animations,
refresh your frizzy flat,
or humidify hair using radio frequency interference.

Let Nature Speak quotes and related quotes about a lifelong love of nature though a mouthful of unharvested food.

*      *     *     *     *

What happens when you bring together a tall, dark and handsome guy
and nature?

30 largely unchecked  forest fires in Yellowstone National Park?

Your Highland Fling?

Nature sounds?

*      *     *     *     *

Let nature bless-the throstle
and mesmerize Coastal habitats.

let nature Seek it’s own comfort
when words fail to do the talking.

*      *     *     *     *

Let Nature Teach Us the wonders beneath the surface
of an enthusiastic, rambling series of instructions
on making an online pinboard to collect and share
crayons of colors found in nature.

*      *     *     *     *

Don’t try to create a butterfly from looking at books.
Take a look at nature to create a butterfly,
then paste it into a book.

*      *     *     *     *

We all love Relaxing and letting Nature do the work.

So let nature excite the beautiful dwarf into a beautiful, excited dwarf,
maintain a public beach,
identify and remove the not-so-faint, odd smell In the everyday home bathroom.

*      *     *     *     *

Nature can reveal to children that machines should be their slaves and not their parents.

*      *     *     *     *

Let nature take its coarse
trees to the mill and leave
with smooth polished wood
it can use to build a really
awesomely cool deer hunting station.

*      *     *     *     *

Let Nature Be Your Valentine!
Let Nature Be Your ready wealth!
Let Nature Be Your newest bath tub!

Let Nature Provide aromatherapy!
historical sites!
antiseptic reflections!

Let Nature Inspire Your indian science health blog
where you give out potentially deadly information
about our cherry bark and ginger Respiratory Relief!

Let Nature swim against the ice surrounded by a contemporary Physician-Formulated Organic Approach to Allergy Relief, GRASSLANDS  Relief, and online pattern recognition!

*    *    *    *    *

There are those who say
“That’s all well and good, but
you can’t let nature run Monsanto!”

Have we ever tried?

*    *    *    *    *

I don’t pretend that nature is a paragon of mental health and civility.

I know Nature isn’t exactly pure.

I know, eventually, however, nature will have to go.

*    *    *    *    *

Well, poor old nature passed away this morning.

Let nature handle its own funeral arrangements.

Folding Experience

Take 3 sheets of 8 1/2” x 11” paper.
Fold them in half (top to bottom).
Place one under a stack of bibles.
Place one between 2 volumes of an encyclopedia.
Place one between the pages of a book of poetry.
Wait a week.
Unfold them and lay them flat on a table.
Observe which is the least folded.
Write your hypothesis for why this is so in an unlined pocket-size Moleskin notebook while eating a peach by a river.
If you are dissatisfied with your insights, repeat this experiment using parakeets instead of paper.

Original Translation of Two Poems by Gabriele Barbarrossa (also known in some circles as “The Mad Poet/Tailor of Buenos Aires”)

I.

I made for you
a dress.
I made it in
a hurry.
I made it from
live animals
– its feel is
rather furry –
so if you wear it
in a photograph
your edges
will be blurry.

II.

my son, my son
right here,
your sweater lies
with five nice
button holes
and instead of buttons
flies!

although the flies
have flown away,
do not think I’ve been
unwise,
for I give you both a sweater
and a purpose
– now find your buttons
in the skies!


The works of Gabriele Barbarrossa, “The Mad Poet/Tailor of Buenos Aires” are incredibly difficult to find, both because as poets go, he was a somewhat obscure figure, the son of Italian-born parents who emigrated to Argentina in 1915 who lived the life of a simple tailor in Buenos Aires and published no poetry during his lifetime, and also because of the method he used to write his poetry – sewing it into the inner linings of suit jackets.

My profound thanks to my Argentinian connection – who must remain nameless – for not only spotting these two Barbarrossa poems sewn into a smart, blue, double-breasted blazer, but, knowing that I am somewhat of an amateur Barbarrossa scholar, being kind enough to remove them and mail their thread to me wrapped around a simple wooden spool.

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