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Monday, June 24, 2024

DKC Spoke in Word

Contents


1 > A Life without Latinos

2 > Before We Died

3 > Dear All

4 > Dream Rooms

5 > Eternal Epitaph

6 > French Toast

7 > Green Bell Apples Vs Dreadful Toenail Assholes

8 > Growth

9 > Homo Superior

10 > I Got the American Right

11 > Interchangeable

12 > Jelly

13 > Joe Sphincter

14 > Just Words

15 > Knowing

16 > Mr. Hide

17 > More Than One Poem in My Life

18 > Need Comfort? Try…

19 > Showing a Documentary on Vietnam to a 10th Grade Class

20 > Sixth Anniversary

21 > The Latest Headlines

22 > The Planet of the Oreos

23 > Ulp!

24 > Vomiting for God


This collection copyright 2017 by Don Kingfisher Campbell

http://fourfeatherspress.blogspot.com




1 > A Life without Latinos 


would mean

I never would have

had childhood friends

Russell "Religion Trailer" Ambos

and Ricky "Hot Wheels" Ascencio.


No junior high

one-on-one

basketball duels

with Raul Sosa

and Eddie Bernal

or nail-scratching-neck

sensuality discovery

with Maria Cabrales.


No Vincent Troncoso

trying to best me

in high school everything,

nor Alfred Gonzalez

to cruise with

cranking Dazz

in his speeding Cutlass.


No Thelma Melendez to visit

at Del Taco in Montebello

during sophomore lunch hours;

no Lydia Alvarez to meet

at my first job, ushering

out my virginity

(not a first wife or son

for that matter).


No drafting buddy

Frank Gerardo

to share my love of Yes,

no forgotten co-worker

to tell me I was

"Mexican-by-injection."


No Graciela Rodriguez

to help me act out

voyeuristic fantasies,

no Arleen Patino

to attempt to

lure me into being

a Jehovah's Witness.


No Cindy Sanchez

with long curly hair

that made me ponder

becoming a missionary,

no Cindy Martinez

to drink away

my first teaching assistant

months with.


No Evy next door

with which to have

pathetic affair,

no Suzie Morales

to teach me

the difference between

being a man

and a woman


No Laura Diaz

to change my life forever,

to finally make me

passionate enough

to want a daughter

(Kyla Alejandra,

whose best friends are

Leslie Guzman

and Crystal Rivas). 


No poet friend

Fernando Castro

to collaborate with

on projects,

no Yvonne Estrada

to compare poems with

on the lunacy of

just being alive.


No Gabriel Alvarado

to co-host poetry

for years like

he was the reincarnation

of Jim Morrison;

no Dan Garcia,

the musician/poet,

too withdrawn to enjoy

performing, but also

too smart to ignore.


No James Alvarado,

former student

and now working activist,

no Marcia Arrieta,

teacher become

introverted publisher

of experimental poetry.


No workshop compatriots

like Lea Bermudez,

Maria Elena Fernandez,

Elsa Frausto,

Linda Gamboa,

Liz Gonzalez,

Michael Gonzalez,

Sheana Ochoa,

Angel Perales,

Carmen Vega;

no Upward Bound boss

Susan Madrid-Simon.


No Luis Alfaro,

Luis Campos,

JG Esguerra,

Consuelo Flores,

Steve Ramirez,

Luis J. Rodriguez,

Michele Serros,

America Solis,

Gary Soto,

Roxanne Soto,

Natalia Vargas

on my rolodex

or address book.

Not to mention

all the

architects,

attendants,

baseball players,

clerks,

doctors,

engineers,

fast food employees,

gardeners,

lawyers,

mechanics,

movie stars

(OK ,

Maria Conchita-Alonso,

Sonia Braga,

Salma Hayek,

Rita Moreno,

Dolores Del Rio,

and Raquel Welch). 


And hey,

no Ana Barbara, Marc Bonilla,

Cielo Y Tierra, Celia Cruz,

Cusco, Esquivel,

Ana Gabriel, Pedro Infante,

Jose Alfredo Jimenez, Laura Leon,

Los Lobos, Lucia Mendez,

Oingo Boingo drummer, Popol Vuh,

Tito Puente, Raphael,

Pepe Romero, Hope Sandoval

Santana, Andres Segovia,

Selena, Mercedes Sosa,

Tortelvis...c'mon!


Sin esta gente

mi vida

just wouldn't be

lo mismo.




2 > Before We Died


the pictures came out

there was anger in the air

drivers sped a little faster

to get to their rectangular hideouts

hits to internet movies increased

but I think this has all caused me

to finally to see what pornography really is

 

now when I get naked with someone

I wonder where are the hoods the wires

the dogs the digital cameras

to keep us from revealing

how ashamed we are to be just skin

in the kingdom made by something

other than man what was the creator

 

thinking is this why we're here

to hope to someday transcend

to something beyond this sphere

is it something to look forward to

something nonmaterial something

I cannot see something that won't

remind me of what beasts we are

 

will my spirit inside finally come out

party because of the release finally

coming and no fluid will be involved

and I will be happy to have moved

beyond body into something ethereal

incapable of exercising any control

over the creatures that remain chained


for a while to the damned globe of

learning what is really important

that religion and politics were all

just exercises in preparation for

the true existence the one that

follows this short test this brief hell

that teaches us words for thoughts

 

and what a shame it would be

if all locutions were here

to simply become dust or

possibly that is the intention

that this experiment does not

leave this planet maybe there is

a wisdom to this limited breathing




3 > Dear All

 

A truck passes

On the highway

Outside the window

Of Motel 6 #138

 

It's a clear black night

On vacation from

Nine to Five

The yellow pages open

 

Lying on the bedspread

My lover and I

Plot another day

Until the money's gone

 

We're on the run

From routine, effortlessly

Dressed to blend in

With the plentiful locals

 

Walking outside

The 7-11 always open

Residents hang by the phone

We go in

 

To buy travel-size shampoo

A 6 pack of Gillettes

Another 6 of Corona

Don't forget the Cheetos


Back in the room

We turn on the cable

Get lucky with the movie

Stay up to watch the shine

 

Ride out the moon

Alive and nocturnal

Not so different

From our hometown

 

So let us praise the expected

The assumed electricity

The bill in the mail

The $1.55 gasoline

 

The red neon vacancy sign

The passing trucker

The easily-written-on yellow pages

The metal-coiled pay phone

 

The distant and convenient corporations

The historically festive Mexicans

The factory workers back home

The Hollywood runaways

 

And you, civilized neighbors

Wherever we go

Thank you, thank you

For leaving us alone




4 > Dream Rooms


(1)


Darkness arrives,

we take off our eyes,

lock mouths,

wrap limbs,

 

become two

puzzle pieces

on the bed.

 

(2)


Hamsters in the box

with a cut-out window,

huddling close

 

impressing love

on each other's body.

 

(3)


I hug

my decade-long duende.

She strokes the hair

of her incubus

 

wishing

nine lives.


(4)


Trucks pass,

phantoms

down the street.

 

We might as well be

on a coupon vacation

at a Dana Point Super 8.


(5)


We breathe in waves

under seaweed sheets,

mussles undulating

on percale beach. 


We toss and turn

in the flotsam and jetsam

of separate but equal

dream worlds.

 

(6)


Lying at this moment,

other apartments

do what we have done,

 

moan exercise as people

imitate sleep.

 

(7)


If an earthquake comes,

we won't watermelon mind.

 

We'll just hold on

ready for evaluation

preferring mutual breakage.

 

(8)


But the sun rises.

Our minds return

to conscious light,

 

twitter

conversation relay,

door departure.

 

(9)


Until we meet

again in the night,

the nocturnal creatures,

yin and yang,

 

two familiar

with being endangered.




5 > Eternal Epitaph


You are a ghoul

in the graveyard

of my past life


The siren who took my soul

with magic potion lips

and black cat sounds


Am I being an ogre

to remind you of the spell

that once spooked both our spirits


We were like bats

fluttering above the zombies

soaring on a warlock’s broomstick


Now I'm no better than a ghost

rattling my chains to bemoan

what sank in the quicksand


I'd rather be an imp

putting you in an iron maiden

to revive our skeletons


Instead I limp along like a mutant

wishing he had his banshee back

to spin illusion again


But come to think of it

you actually were a witch

wearing a black widow


Who sank her fangs into my heart

to bleed to death my dream

we would have an afterlife


There is no chance of a phoenix here

because you are the phantasmal wraith

and I poisoned spider in a dungeon


So I guess I'll bury our chimera

which turned out to be a squonk without

a demon's chance at reincarnation


And carry a torch into my skull

wherein lies the specter of a relationship

like cobwebs in a catacomb




6 > French Toast


I'm not French

but I love

French Toast

--started in childhood


my father would pick up

normal everyday

Wonder slices

and drop them


into a porcelain bowl

that looked like it belonged

in an early 60's TV show

I think I saw one on Bewitched


anyway, after floating

and being turned twice

in the pure egg pool

touched by cream


my father's fingers

would forklift a slice

into the round black pan

into that familiar Crisco sizzle


where three ultimately faced each other

waiting for their turn

when their surface sounded

brown and crispy


then the flip

and you knew it was good

if you saw dark freckles

dominate the eggs


this was the single sliced version

my father's Saturday morning best

but after church on Sunday

I discovered the double density


delight of thick restaurant

slices decorated with powdered sugar

that happily swam in syrup

as my fork sopped up


a dripping mouthful of… ultra bread

bread perfection

bread you can no longer call

bread anymore


French Toast

though I've never been to France

I guess they must love to fry

French Toast, French Fries, French Dressing, French Kiss


Oh... I always get carried away

when I relive my favorite childhood

the one I order on any slow morning

with a cherished day off


whenever I have a need

for a mental vacation

I travel... to a pancake house

and lay on my tongue a syrupy crust




7 > Green Bell Apples Vs Dreadful Toenail Assholes


I want to write a poem about clipping one's toenails

That's my idea: to start with something dreadful

But then I think of what is even worse: assholes

And realize I need a pleasant counterbalance, like apples

A universally loved fruit, historically important, red or green

This contrasts wonderfully, causes my brain to ring like a bell


I decide I'll try to get every word to sound like a bell

For example, I dig the noise made by each clip of toenails

It's good to cut them, it's like eating something green

Which results in fine digestion, a subject considerably dreadful

To some, until you remind them that it is grown apples

Chewed and swallowed that help to unplug stopped assholes


You definitely want to keep doctors away from assholes

When they get a hold of you, you reverberate inside like a bell

Thus a diet of the good stuff is essential, like mature apples

And bananas and oatmeal and gelatin for your toenails

I hear it comes from animal fat--how nauseatingly dreadful

To contemplate--I've got to shift theme: a tree is green


That's better, our world is mostly filled with glorious green

Trees and bushes and grasses and hopefully not just assholes

That would be unpleasant, right? Another notion dreadful

Like oil slicks and car exhaust and stock traders clanging a bell

To signal the start of trading--there's a concept without visible toenails

How do we get back to nature in this concrete land of few apples


By focusing some time on what gives us a quality of living like apples

And take an afternoon off to walk in a park or wilderness that's green

A place where one can remove one's shoes, expose them toenails

Maybe even find a lonely spot to excrete onto dirt from assholes

Like design intended, remember we discovered how to cast a bell

Forge furnaces, direct sewage through corrugated pipes so dreadful


And what about us, the modernized people who've become dreadful

With our loud stereos, air conditioning, paper waste, prepackaged apples

Filling landfills and stopping up rivers--we need a real warning bell

To toll in our heads to call us to ponder again the value of green

Instead we drive and fly our cyberspaced opinions like assholes

Everybody's got a justification, but what about freeing those toenails


Yes, it's all down to toenails freedom or leather shoes dreadful

When it's the assholes that rule, we diminish the number of apples

So go for the green life and make your own cause a cleansing bell




8 > Growth

 

Something 

you need to do 

sometime in your life 


It will take a while 

before you can truly 

perform it well but 


If you're a man 

take some time from 

your daily dolor 


To let your beard grow 

and if you're a woman 

find an unsuited partner 


After about a month 

of not shaving above 

the adam's apple 


You'll notice you'll have 

a natural urge 

to stroke it 


Now this is an art form 

and there are many 

teachers in the world 


Just observe 

how I use writing hand 

or my athletic fingers 


To form a V shape 

just the right size 

to add to a chin 


The first finger is 

the stroker and the thumb 

holds the face in place 


As you prop your thinker 

move the index slowly 

straight up and down


Find the pleasure of 

thoughts coming to you 

mainly about 


The joy of having 

your own furry animal 

to pet whenever you feel like it 


If you discover yourself 

unearthing deeper ideas utilize both 

thumbkin and aforementioned digit 


Starting horizontally 

equidistant on the jaw 

and bring them together 


Like they are skiers 

on a tree-lined mountain 

and stop to purse your lips 


This drives the women 

who love intellectuals 

into a lustful frenzy 


But that's a different problem 

for you to ponder 

as you enjoy your mature visage 


You'll never want to go back 

to the scraping baby face smoothness 

of being somebody's mama's boy 


Unless you're not ready yet 

to graduate to true manhood 

grown centuries ago in rocky caves




9 > Homo Superior 


what do you want

from life

 

to have more than

other people

 

well, I’ve got

good news

 

in Los Angeles

over 60% rent

 

so if you own a home you

have something to lord over

 

not enough?

what about a car

 

if you bought it new

you beat out 70%

 

how ‘bout food?

this one’s easy

 

50% of the world

goes to bed hungry

 

maybe fear an illness?

chances are you’re better off


than the 34,000,000 worldwide

with HIV (mostly in Africa)


want to hear about

a real minority?

 

there are a million

publishing poets in the US

 

nearly all of them

can’t make money that way

 

they write for love

and peace and equality

 

they don’t care much

for owning a home

 

driving a car

even eating meat

 

poetic hangovers

they’re quite likely to have

 

because many of them suffer

to think any one is

 

living just to have

more than someone else




10 > I Got the American Right 


I got the American right

to wake up to an alarm clock

tuned to a talk radio station

(too many bad things going on)


I got the American right

to take a hot shower

and dry off with an imported towel

(too many damn imports these days)


I got the American right

to drive my SUV to work

and use premium gasoline

(too many emissions regulations anyway)


I got the American right

to put a cell phone to my ear

and talk my head off while I drive

(I told you there's too many nitpicky laws)


I got the American right

to stop off and eat a double cheeseburger

and order some large fries too

(a person's got to live while you can)


I got the American right

to go to my HMO when I feel bad

and buy drugs from Canada on the internet

(good ol' American ingenuity, I say)


I got the American right

to have my son enrolled in a private school

and avoid having him serve in the military

(leave that to the immigrant children)


I got the American right

to ignore my daughter's a lesbian

and publicly declare homosexuals are going to hell

(I usher in church every Sunday)


I got the American right

to own a home in the suburbs

and pay a variable rate mortgage

(more talk radio to listen to on my commute)


I got the American right

to run up my credit card debt

and relieve my burden by filing for bankruptcy

(only in America can you start over and not go to jail)


I got the American right

to be buried any way I want

and have my relatives go on with their lives

(that's the work ethic that made America great)




11 > Interchangeable


isn't it remarkable

how our parts

simply interact


with one another,

like mind

and limbs


how hand can

brush hair, hold

penis, reach rectum


how fingers can

point, tickle, grab,

poke, caress, interlock


how eyes work

with mouths

and appendages


how mouths can

smile or frown,

send sounds, kiss


how arms can

embrace or

push away


how legs can

climb, walk, or run,

individually or in unison


how tongue can

explore entire

skin surface


how penis can be

inserted into mouth, vagina,

asshole, ear (and vice versa)


how hands can

applaud, pray,

or direct


how foot can

play footsie

or kick head


how fist can

punch gut

or knock head


how head can butt

other head, how

torso can knock torso


how butt can be

placed on torso

or any other part


how bodies can be piled

on top of each other

and remembered


hanged by the neck,

chopped into pieces;

drawn, dragged, photographed, or shot 


how forms can

dance, wholly

an expression


it could be yours,

it could be mine,

what's the difference


to minds scratched by

fingertips, creating poetry,

each body makes us all




12 > Jelly 


a floating plant

or

headless animal


a living negative

or

free x-ray


a cool night light

or

small spaceship


a mind

with an

idea


a barely

visible

apple


a flexible

picture

frame


a clear

napkin in

wet wind


a TV

sans

screen


an inverted

vase, flowers

upside down


a pastry

made of the

lightest flour


a half

moon

in water


a hooped

skirt

undulating


a ghost baseball

trying to lose

its cords


a flowered hat

with ribbons to

tie around the neck


look at this

crystal ball,

see the past


like a great

comma looking

for a sentence


it doesn't

see beauty,

it feels


an organic

machine like

a heart


a blue

window to

our beginning


an almost

empty

backpack


a balloon

that got

away




13 > Joe Sphincter


Hey bud

I wanna tell you something

Hey, don't walk away

I've got something to say

So what if we're not

from the same neighborhood

I see you every day

when I stop at this 7-11

And I wonder if you've

noticed me, driving through

in my Nissan P/U

Yes, I keep my rims so shiny

you can see yourself

as I drive by, that's because

I want you to notice

I ain't no Weber

I know what it's like here

I stop, look around

People always in their own business

Standing at the bus stop

Leaning against the store

or inside playing the games

I buy my breakfast burrito

and O.J.

I see you and I walk

to my wheels and speed away

through the intersection

But today I had to stop

before I go into my work life

I had to stop because I wonder

What the hell are you thinking

when you see me stopping

I had to stop because I wonder

what the hell is your life

like tangent to mine

I'm just bugged

going to work

not talking to anybody

except cents to the clerk

It's like I'm driving thru water

so slow I can't hear

nobody saying anything

I can't take it anymore

Punch me or something

Make me feel I belong

In my world In your world

In our busy too busy world

Why are we so wrapped up

in our own lives

Why are we here

Just to pass each other

Every day make us feel

We're in a social ball

Orbiting a vacuum

that doesn't care if I die

or you

Oh sure, people will go

to our funeral

Especially if I pull out a gun

and shoot your indifferent ass

Some guy with neat hair

on the news

will comment

we existed

for 2 minutes

lesson to

us all

Hey, don't walk away

I don't have a gun

I just watch too much TV

How about you

You got a wife and a kid

and a job and

time to yourself

in this world

Do you worry sometimes

why are we here

if we just end up

replicating

until the great forces

eliminate

all signs

that we are here

Someday the sign

will read

we were here

But there'll be

nobody to read it

So, what do we do

now, we're standing

here in front of

a 7-11 with cars

in the street and work

to do...are we really

keeping the world

running... ever

heard of

J. Alfred Prufrock


REPLY: What are you,

a poet or something?




14 > Just Words


These are just words

Don't be afraid

These are just words

It's not like they want to

Hit you in the face

These are just words

And nothing to fear

Except how you will react

If you read something you don't like

Then you might judge me but

These are just words

They are incapable of

Spreading your legs

And going thrust thrust thrust

These are just words

Ideas formed through

Thousands of years

These are just words

Which in this mind

Know the hypocrisy

Of leaders and followers

Of the fervent and the disinterested

Because I have experienced all these

And expressed my reactions

In the way that I was taught

These are just words

Can they change the world

Are they translatable

To every culture

Despite our similarities

We like to feel differences

Make us better than others

And that is the danger

Of reading what sentences give

These are just words

Of an ordinary man

They cannot hold you prisoner

Any longer than you let them

Won't gouge your eyes out

Nothing under your fingernails

Except maybe a papercut

No smoke rings will blow by you

These are just words

And they want to find how

To bring about good feelings

Even from bad situations

We all have them

These are just words

Not as powerful as humans

Who use them to pass judgment

Each day on what they encounter

But they might just learn someday

To always use poetry to unite people

To understand our commonality

Since art seeks to improve life

These are just words

And you may utilize them

As you deem necessary

Possibly to assist a backrub

Or to ask to get your car fixed

Yes you might love to request

The opportunity to devour food

For your belly or your soul

To have sex or just conversation

Incredibly imagine a flower is a day

Yet what will this cost you

These are just words

Which like wind to your brain

Allow you to breathe out

Thoughts, dreams, desires

These are just words

And for that reason they have

Been created to serve until

Our mortal coils burn out

These are just words

Read some, write some,

Share some, perform some

These are just words

If they are handled with care

These are just words




15 > Knowing

 

I smile when I want to close my eyes

I hang around while I wish to be alone

I look at buildings instead of wildflowers

This is my daily dolor

I desire to get away from

I have to enter my car

And drive drive drive

So I can find myself

Walking a trail

Feel the crunch of rocks under my shoes

Hear the crunch of rocks under my shoes

See the wind make flowers dance

I walk a way a while

Then I must return

Ask myself why

I leave the earth I love

For another week of structure and structures

I madly learn to

Pay the bills

Come up with rent

I buy music and write poetry

That I may someday really remember

To forget the material

Rejoin the planet

But I'm not ready

For such advancement yet

The perfect bliss

Of being

A shrub

In the desert




16 > Mr. Hide  


OK

I admit it

and you won't be

surprised

There are neighborhoods

I won't walk in

Why?

Because I'm different

in shade

I'm afraid

I'll be noticed

and thought of

as rich

in my Mervyn's shirt

and Target

pants

I'll be confronted

and talked to

and asked

for money

So I keep moving

gas up quick

The freeway is a kind

of controllable solitude

Unless a car comes

too close

and we swerve

and throw confused

frowns and fingers

Heartbeats

eventually calm

miles away

So quickly

in a another neighborhood

It feels like I've been

through seven countries

When it's really

only forty miles

That's L.A.

I was born here

but that's no special

award or right

I stay close

to where I grew

up in a San Gabriel valley

The one where no one's

more than a third

of the population

And I feel safe

because there's safety

in diversity

That's what I feel

in Alhambra

But I'm starting to see

too many signs

in just one language

And I get nervous

that I might

start

standing


out




17 > More Than One Poem in My Life

  

I don't wanna look like my father.

I don't wanna turn in to my father.

I don't want to have a double chin

and Grecian Formula hair.

On the other hand,

he was loved. A Pisces

liked by his co-workers.

A ruddy complexion

that never wavered from male.

From his 10am Old Spice shadow,

right down to his white

Fruit Of The Looms.

I didn't want to be like my father.

I didn't want to be

a detective for the sheriffs.

I didn't have to worry.

He was 6' - 2" and I knew

I'd never reach him.

His wedding band, size 12.

Mine, 6 ½.

I've got girl's hands!

Clean, uncalloused

(except the middle finger) 

feminine hands.

"An artist's hands."

No yellowed nails

from cigar smoking

or asbestos pipe-fitting

in the Navy.

I missed required registration

by two months.

Yeah!

Now I'm 40,

no pouch over my penis.

Fighting off fat,

I avoid his beloved steaks

washed down with

saccharine iced tea.

It's easy, financially.

I chose to be a poet.

Or did I?

Was I destined

because of my

small hands,

my father's looming discipline?

I became a day-to-day reader

--the times I was sent to my room.

My father thanked his secretaries

for correcting his letters.

He left his living room chair

some nights

to earn his other "diploma" in life:

the second car for my mother.

The employee-discount toys

came from those midnights

as a Mattel watchman.

Before he died at 58 of cancer,

he showed me the one poem

he says he ever wrote.

His life, of course, for me

was another.




18 > Need Comfort? Try...


to walk in a supermarket

pushing a shopping cart

with store muzak wafting

fluorescent lights buzzing above

could be any major city

in the good ol' familiar US

see those bright friendly

boxes of Tide and All

pyramid families of fruits

rows of Campbell's and Cheetos

the 1/2 price bakery cart

the Cosmopolitan magazine woman

greeting me at the checkstand

then I'm stepping out

into the pole lamp

lit American Night

Volkswagen Vanagons

Honda Civics

Jeep Cherokees in the parking lot

turn my ignition key to return

to the California stucco apartment

I live in, whistling mindlessly

an America tune from my car radio


after I pull out

another car pulls in




19 > Showing a Documentary on Vietnam to a 10th Grade Class


Machine gun rotates as it fires


Teens talk not facing the screen


Bombs drop from crossing B-52


Girl looks into compact, brushes lashes


Plane falls, fireball on the ground


Boy pages through sports magazine


Diplomats chopstick seven course meal


Another boy intently plays a cell phone game


College student holds up protest sign


Another girl stares into iPod connected to her ears


Throngs cheer at a political rally


A couple boys actually watch the video


Tearful refugee describes the loss of her family


Substitute teacher finishes poem




20 > Sixth Anniversary 

 

because of 

April 29th 

Los Angeles 

 

a palm 

tree is a 

torch 

 

a baton 

is an 

arm 

 

a fire 

extinguisher is 

a hammer 

 

long hair is 

a river 

of blood 

 

shaved hair 

is naked 

feeling 

 

a shoplifter 

is a freedom 

fighter 

 

arms are for 

carrying 

TVs 

 

store security 

cameras are the best 

TV 

 

a camera 

better than 

human eyes 

 

helicopters 

are the best 

portable VCRs 

 

liquor store 

roofs are places 

of honor 

 

rap songs 

are the people's 

network 

 

a jury 

just 

opinion 

 

a gun 

is still 

a penis 

 

smoke 

releases 

anger 

 

police 

cars are 

targets 

 

the Police 

Chief is a 

retired citizen 

 

skin color 

is now a job 

requirement 

 

my wife's 

relatives moved 

to Orange County 

 

think 

of Mexico 

again 

 

Normandie 

is still 

a nightmare 

 

the writing on 

the walls better 

be read 

 

poems 

are 

AK-47s




21 < The Latest Headlines


Flies decide to start washing feelers

to eliminate diseases picked up from

roadkill.


Hermaphrodite sea cucumbers declare

themselves a disgrace to the planet.


Fish will no longer allow sex changes

to save species--goodbye cruel world!


Mice experiment on larger life forms

to promote tolerance.


Frogs plan to stop licking own skin

to get high.


Bird songs copyrighted to prevent

those not of their kind from

using their mating rituals.


Rabbits vow to become monogamous

--must control their soap opera lives

to curtail nose and tail twitching.


Cats and dogs unite to put an end

to unwanted pregnancies,

bite each others balls off.


Hyenas quell laughter--Earth

just isn't funny anymore.


Monkeys, in an effort to advance

their lot on the globe, promise

to limit acts of masturbation

and oral sex to once a month.


Lions abolish war against gazelles

--remarkable weight loss and

reduction in heart attacks reported

--grass tastes good!


Pandas proclaim there is only one God

--and it is in their own image.


Dolphins can dancing from

their swim routines--there's

too much art on this sphere.


Zebras paint themselves completely

black or white in an attempt

to head off horse prejudice.


Humans still displaying animal

characteristics when it comes to

territoriality, homophobia, and drug abuse.


Elephants remember when looks

did not matter.


Whales release double CD of ocean tunes,

believe they're as talented as Yes.


Trees sway to celebrate a billion years

of being hooked on sunlight.


Clouds know they're above it all.




22 > The Planet of the Oreos

 

so delightful this black oceaned and white continented world

the round black framed white bellied people enjoy eating

black crusted pizza covered with creamy white topping

as they sit at their white tableclothed black tables and

wear black and white dresses and suits and ties simply to

exit their white windowed black houses and walk on

white stone walkways around black bladed grass to go in

to their black cars sporting white rims which roll down

black (white lines through the middle) highway arrive at

circular black concrete plaza and lounge on raised white platform

dark and light mouths open in delight at the joy of living

on a delicious planet with black sky and white clouds except

for the fact their teeth are white with black spots all over

which they try to clean by taking milk river baths while

standing on black stones as the white sun shines in the night

but mostly their poetry is ours...which we can experience by

turning our video screens to the black and white setting




23 > ULP! (The Ultimate Lovelorn Poem)


Your long press-on nails make my jeans stretch.

You make me want to throw away my portapotty mouth.

My socks have holes in the toes from worshipping your presence.

My love for you is so single-minded, I'm developing a unibrow.

My love for you is as hip as a fu-manchu mustache.

Pickled pigs feet can't compare to our love.

I'm so inspired, I have to set my bedside alarm to 4am to write you love poems.

The pen with which I write you love poems is leaking in my pocket right now.

I've got a gum-stuck-to-your-shoe type obsession about us.

If you don't say you love me, it's like I spilled my ice cream cone on a polished floor.

Your kind words are my brussel sprouts.

This is that horrible green plastic Halloween mask kinda love.

Sometimes we're just a couple a skunks, in private.

My hair gets all frizzy when I think about what we've done.

Our love is as embarrassing as a pair of tighty-whities.

Burnt toast has got nothing on our love.

I'd wear socks with sandals if it meant our love was comfortable.

I'm blown away like an old umbrella by what you declare.

When you're mad at me, I wish you'd peel off that band-aid of hate quickly.

Remember that old fruit loaf lovin' we just had ... again.

You're a yellow jacket stinging my flesh for feeling.

Our love is like a batch of cole slaw from a take-out restaurant (on a red plastic tray).

I see a banana peel on the black and white checkered linoleum of our relationship.

You've got your hair in a bun today, bitch.

I'm putting my white plastic gloves on before I touch you.

You drove a rusty nail through my heart, or was that my penis.

The toilet roll of our love is running out of sheets.

The cell phone signal of our love is down to a single bar.

A can of sardines is almost as slimy as our moments of hatred.

Dirty dishes lie strewn about the living room of our past.

I'm the cockroach you step on every time you see me.

Time has expired on the parking meter of our love.




24 > Vomiting for God


first go


to get out

of your head

with your "friends"


your drinking

buddies


eat more pizza slices

than one hand

can count


don't forget

the anchovies


guzzle some

beer, try


different brands

with each heavy glassy

overpriced mug


especially the Moosehead


perform repeatedly

the Heineken maneuver


don't stop until

you feel like stealing

someone else's jacket


make a sign of the cross


forgive yourself


then drive


homeward-bound, yelling

to a song, it's


"More Than A Feeling"

blasting out of your car

radio, windows down

rushing night


air closing sweating

pores, think you're lucky

no cop saw you

find historical ways


to piss

off glinting chrome


making drumbeats

with botts dots


creep

in to your apartment


quietly lie


in the already dark bed

room


form a mummy's X


go to sleep


wait


for that positively

earthly


rumbling in your stomach


turn your head

back and forth like

an anchovy


when backwash comes

knocking at your esophagus

run excitedly to the john


open your mouth


and watch all evil

thoughts spill out

past your teeth:


the times you wore

plaid bell bottoms


and exchanged

childish fists

to exact revenge

for being born


a middle class

little sphincter,

that summer sunburned

teenager sneaking


into Saturday Night

Fever matinees,


equally inane quasi adult

five fingering pizza


from an unoccupied table

near the restroom,


getting married

because you had catholic sex


with the first girl out

of boys high school,


leering at the married

mother of two


who smiles when you pass

her at the entrance


to your complex,


wonder why

you didn't fuck


that poet

who wanted you,


the year

you considered voting

Republican;

these seven guttural sins,

each openmouthed, cry


as infidelities past

pass into the unfeeling


uncaring cold porcelain

receptive bowl


chunky flecks

of disbelief in God

fall


(hear yourself

pray "Oh God

I'll never do this again")


kneel

and observe


globs

of lies


told in your life

that now seem like


bell peppers,


sway deliriously

like an insignificant fly


egg on

the heaving urge


for continuing

animal roar


of flowing tongue

chant out loud


when you pass

midnight


recreate all past

California stops


those wonderful

stolen moments


you'll never forget, each time

you twitch


for The Lord's forgiveness


praise the invention

of man


unloading

eating sin


in a sacred

hole


DKC Spoke in Word

Contents 1 > A Life without Latinos 2 > Before We Died 3 > Dear All 4 > Dream Rooms 5 > Eternal Epitaph 6 > French Toast 7...