Bob KAUFMAN, Kahlil GIBRAN, just finished some GANDHI & AUROBINDO...
here are a bunch of poems from my latest collection, "one! by land, two! by sea, three! by air":
Either nice
or twin rivers flowing
Miranda rights & wrongs
cut it
cut it out
cut it in
cut it open
cut it
cut it out
cut it loose
cut it shor-
(Turkey & Bulgaria, April-June 2006)
sputtering
out of control
you wicked butterfly,
who clipped yr wings?
prayers in the prairies
for you,
my tightrope walker
encapsulate
all yr frozen identities
cram them into the oven
& teach them forgotten songs
the young voyeurs,
imbibing forbidden fluids...
pull over!
for the love of love...
let us savour
each drop of nectar
from glistening lips,
from swollen fruits dangling
from the tree branches
like necklaces & pendants...
summer lurks around the corner,
the moon will rise triumphant
so rocket forth,
so rocket forth
mes amis
(Bulgaria, 11 June 2006)
Fire-sick bird
belch yr flame,
my companion
(Irakli, Bulgaria, 15 June 2006, 1:29)
i want to chuck this glass off the balcony
but that wouldn't be too kosher
lob this shotglass into oblivion...
why do the vultures
fold themselves amongst the lambs?
bloodthirsty lambs,
what have you done with my flock?
you ask a lot of questions for a
for a
for whatever you are
drape yrself
in hostile colours
bear the flag
of the presserman
there's a cross over there
but you've been crossed a few times now
yes, a cross over there
but what good does it do?
giggle on, little one
may yr giggles never be silenced
(Ramallah, 9 July 2006)
yr deluded in the head
all the blood, that you shed
and the bodies, they pile up
yeah the bodies of the dead...
(Israel, July 2006)
Dimestore babies
cracking on some tome
hero worshippers
lacking homes
trick or treat, they say
and i don't blame them
(Petra, 16 July 2006)
you know, i can't tell if she's biting today
there she sits
on her corner
back hunched over,
slumped over
inside i feel a lead weight
deadening my insides...
(well at least i'm grounded)
hook
line
and sinker
it even hurts to swallow
i sink,
i sink -
will it be enough
to catch her?
or is she
already caught?
(Burgas, 26 July 2006)
the inverse Golden Rule blues
air strikes me as a thunderbolt claps
we're going fishin' today
the low hum of passing trains seeps into the night,
ghostly resounding echoes
catapult me to a bygone age
let hoodlums be hoodlums
aggravated by yr fellow man?
disappointed?
let down?
have no fear,
that doesn't make you a misanthrope -
it means you have a backbone!
the inverse Golden Rule blues.
so shine like a delapidated, tarnished pheasant feather.
preen yrself & overflow the wishing well.
may spires greet you
& turmoil grace you
with a last
parting
kiss
(Salem OR, 13 January 2007)
stars & stripes
oh the red white & blue
all the red blood you shed
for the white of yr racism
you have everyone singing the blues
there's a price to pay
for yr life of convenience
not everyone lives that way
not everyone has an SUV
maybe a case of HIV
or an IED
a whopping GND
generations of poverty
for yr fucked status quo
more & more of us know
that yr pulling the strings
sacrificing the underlings
but we've had enough
of yr bloodthirst for stuff
blatant disgregard for life
new world order of war & strife
oh yr red white & blue
all the red blood you shed
for the white of yr racism
you have everyone singing the blues
how many lives will it take
for yr apocalyptic millenium
yr second coming of shit
perverted blasphemy that won't quit
killing all the Muslims for one
killing all the Jews when yr done
all but yr chosen few
fundamentalist is spelled f-u-
oh yr red white & blue
all the red blood you shed
for the white of yr racism
you have everyone singing the blues
(Minneapolis - I$rael, 28 February - July 2007)
the cultural war
the cultural war
cellphones as remote controls
non-remote controls
(7 March 2007, 10:04)
no cat no mouse
no knife
because the knives are out
so to speak
to speak is to create
to act is to implement
scholarly reclusion
an act of self-hatred
despondence complete
ciao
for now
for a buggity doo
for a warehouse, a Suleyman
in Timbuktu
no stocks or bonds
but a pumpkin-shade warehouse
no cat no mouse
no cat
no mouse
(9 March 2007)
7 birds
bound for the North
the pitter-patter of raindrops on the roof
the throbbing resonance from below,
the belly of the beast
(Upstate NY, 14 March 2007)
hey,
that vagina in the middle of yr back
is mighty inviting
and you -
yr teeth gleam like a flashlight
whose foothills shall i grace ce soir?
which winding paths
the hole left by yr absence
isn't much of a consolation
that divine sparkle in yr eye
if i were the last man on Earth
and you were the last woman
would you dis me,
ignore me?
i AM the last man on Earth
you ARE the last woman
quoi alors?!?
citywide emergency is flakes of snow
(Montreal, March 2007)
the answer is yes
yawn,
please -
who ever knew that fatigue
could be so enticing?
jete-moi un coup d'oeil
pour on yr smoke
thick
pilot yr jet
black
fortune tellers
weave threads
dissipate oceans
into unmade beds
the answer is yes
yes, yes, yes.
the answer is yes
even if we have all forgotten
what the question was
the answer is yes
yes, yes, yes.
regardless of the question
(March/April 2007)
If you see something, say something
If you see something, say something.
something,
something.
(Newark, 8 April 2007, 6:38)
Kurt is dead (no, the other one)
don't make me stop
breathing you in
consuming you like a flame does
oxygen
inciting riots
wetting yr nightie
is this taboo?
can we wrap the kneeflow?
porno
since when are we not allowed to repeat ourselves?
Kurt is dead
Have You No Respect
For The Man?
you can really just let go of the other side
there's no need to calculate
Oberoi,
where are you?
must i wait a month...
insights,
outsights,
in sight
& out of sight
in sight
& out of sight
insights,
outsights,
in sight
& out of sight
in sight
& out of sight
there's no need to calculate
you can really just let go of the other side...
that it's looked down upon,
having yr eyes closed
in a public place
how many hours can you go
just listening?
(Rotterdam, 12 April 2007, 22:41)
parasseux / se depecher
il nous appele pour etre parasseux
parasseux
parasseux
parce qu'on doit se depecher
se depecher
se depecher
mais voyez-vous ca?
les poches d'extase
(Bruxelles, 14 April 2007, 19:55)
take me to the red-light district
take me to the red-light district
the lights around here are too blue
(Rotterdam, 14 April 2007, 3:22)
what the bush in Shepherd's Bush
what the bush in Shepherd's Bush
going to work for yr own tush
capitalist drones on yr cell phones
destroying our planet it's our fucking home
what's going on inside yr heads
do you prefer a planet where we're all dead?
(Shepherd's Bush, London, 16 April 2007, 8:30)
PLEASE SWITCH OFF YOUR ENGINE
PLEASE SWITCH OFF YOUR ENGINE
MERCI D'ETEINDRE VOTRE MOTEUR
BITTE MOTOR AUSHALTEN DANKE
APAGUE EL MOTOR POR FAVOR
PROSZE WYLACZYC SILNIKI DZIEKUJE ZASTOV MOTOR
(Calais, 16 April 2007, 18:27)
6,000,000,000 moving targets
they want to kill us all
every last one of us
they don't just want to
they plan to
but some hearts are true
(Lausanne, 20/21 April 2007)
del og hersk
øl i posen
og bæjer i tasken
kongen af lortet
del og hersk
(Christiania, 24 April 2007)
himlen/småkage
himlen er dejligt
og stor ug rundt
og hvis man vil,
så spiser man småkage
(København, 25 April 2007)
why do i even try
why do i even try
while Afghanis & Iraqis die
and yr ears are plugged with ipods
or cellphones
or both
(Kilburn, London, 1 May 2007)
(born to be) a thorn in yr side
i can't remember the last time i felt my own heart beat
love
joy
gratitude
respect
normalization
i've been isolated
transferred
diagnosed
knocked over
prescribed
published
arrested
imprisoned
searched
interrogated
robbed
lied to
punched
knocked on my ass
spit on
lauded
loved
ignored
ignored
ignored
released
televised
born
married
kicked out
left behind
kissed
fucked
betrayed
yet sat is in its seat
chit doesn't cheat
and ananda is ever-undulating
born to be a thorn in yr side
(Valmo, Nederlands, 5 May 2007, 11:53)
die in yr arms
i'd rather live in a cave
like a so-called primitive
than die in yr arms,
swaddled in investment funds,
clearcuts, & landfills
(Burgas, 19 May 2007)
road map to peace my elbow (don't miss the turn-off, please)
road map to peace
as if peace is a linear destination
a grove of palm trees
just off Route 57
don't miss the turn-off,
please...
(Szikszo, Magyar Republic, 7 June 2007, 7:47)
(for Y)
my soul calls out to yr soul
do you hear it?
i'm sure they can converse
in the same language
though our tongues are tangled & tied
(between Silivri & Istanbul, 28 June 2007, 11:00)
(fine)
fine,
go ahead & rip those leaves
off the tree
scatter them to the winds
fine,
go ahead & try to deny me
entry into yr country
try & stop me
from hitchhiking for hundreds of miles
to protest for yr Arab brethren
how much time & energy
do YOU devote to them?
really, now?
and yr trying to stop ME
from doing so?
may Allah have mercy on you
may Allah have mercy on us all
for getting into this mess in the first place
for dipping our filthy paws in it
& spreading it all over
fine,
go ahead & whip that spider
to the ground
grind it into the asphalt
under yr heel
& explain how
you have to
because it's SO dangerous
you, my friend,
are dangerous.
(Syria, 2 July 2007)
and here's a new one:
dwarf that
industrial wastelands
colossal rusty bridges
that stretch
seemingly
to the ends
of the Earth...
the sun
is still brutal,
intact
(our pollution
hasn't managed to dwarf that
yet)
but elsewhere,
dwarves -
as far as the eye can see
(the train to Newark, 9 January 2009) | 
