exercise #5

the exercises with random words i find challenging, but in a good way. this exercise had me look at page 108 of nine books and cull words from them for a poem. the words were of my choosing, but from a select set. there are choices within limitations.
the words were create (kids), limitations (law), reliance (gardening), bruised (romance), abuse (religion), abandon (bio), relieve (horror), and seized (history).


i feel the limitations of my flesh

the inadequacies of self-reliance

bruises of self-abuse mark my arms

leak through my fingertips

stain these pages

i want to abandon my failing body

give these words relief

my only offering is a seizure

exercise #4

"Suddenly the city, your city, is a place where places to write come to mind. You must always know those places at all times." ~CAConrad


i've seen these streets before
every day walking to and from work
for the past three years
passing houses like waiting adults
outside the carousel
when the ride stops i am slung off
///////// poetry catastrophe
phone call last night said
someone is dying
phone call that the world
is coming to an end
phone call telling me
to get out of my house
there is a poetry emergency
take shelter outside your homes
i find myself at the park
where no one else is
i look at the future park
in one year and it looks
exactly the same
i look at the future park
in ten years and there is
nothing to look at
calling all poets
there are some futures
you can't change
but you must be present
i'm trying to really see it
this is a poetry crisis
and you're missing it

exercise #3

i'm not sure about the quality of these poems. they certainly aren't indicative of my style. i'm more interested in the process, so maybe i should tell you about that. for this exercise i had to eat dark chocolate and hum on the subway. it is interesting to unquestioningly obey instructions in pursuit of poetry. so on the subway for nine stops i wrote nine words, and from those 81 words made this poem. it is hard not to see this as just a string of random words i wrote down while under the influence of chocolate in a subway. and yet i also thought about these words, edited them, extrapolated meaning from them. and so now, also, these words seem meaningful. they create a story for me.



"orange glow"

i feel orange
time travelling
stuck in the middle
only be, stop
wake now into something

the forward stripe
of my fake face
leans toward a
tiny absolute grave
almost born

soothe, eat
some what salve
strange meat
like jade soles
keeping me from solve

when will i dig
in sand and air
to stop the slow creep
bring the fire
make ton come

then orange glow
will comb, transform
try into must
stop time burst
up sky