Grim And Bear It

—Poetry and Visuals by Smith, Cleveland, OH

ON THE BLOCK

Car repair shop waiting room
awaiting bite
unmisled by free brownies and caffeine
what will the car gods want?
ain't got no 1st born
having snipped my tubes 45 years ago
cannot offer my former innocence
which politics and corporations
repeatedly kill with stakes
no get out of jail free card
no welcome to my neighborhood
more like now you gonna pay
sucka
so data poor I sit and sip and nibble
rereading Sacred Clowns
unfooled
I know resurrection rituals cost
what with three TVs
on two different channels
of sports and food and deadbrain brine
looking for a vein to suck
as I read my toe tag—
13 hundred bucks
of buy bye baby
bye buy

 Hotspot

The water rush of wind
through trees and leaves again
softens sour spin

 2 of 9

GRIM AND BEAR IT

You never know
when your words are done
do you

Over there they're everywhere
here they're never near
and often unclear

All is... simply isn't
and isn't isn't enough to know
the highs and lows

Seems we're riding a rust pus bucket
through decayed industrial park
in increasing dark

Wail and weep of tears
sweat fear
sweep years

You wanna play now
plot later?
That train ain't got no station

 Borderline

ON YOUR KNEES PLEASE
(and let’s hum the Corporate Anthem)

Lost degenerates’ breast whipped intentions
Horseradished and foreskin unfurled
Now scheme clitoral dreams
And corporate corporeal retention.

Lies lie your why and my
Rubber-stamped existence.
Live like the less.
Don’t focus.
Don’t rest.
Suck tit or lick long extension.

 Fishwater

NEVER NUFF

The quiet one calls
anguished over fallen friend

I offer good thought
word moth in night wind
string sentence across sky
for sweet nip of ear

 Bill Evans

ON THE STATE OF THE STATE

Take this world
Rather round
And topsy turvy
Turn her upside down
Then all the oceans
Which cover her face
Would soon drain off
Into outer space
Without the water
A bouncy ball
Drop it out window
Watch it fall
How it falls so fast
How it hits so hard
It bounces
In pieces
All over the yard
Take a stick
And stick the world on top
Voila!
A huge lollipop!
But o alas
What’s the use of it all
I can’t take a lick
Cuz my tongue’s too small
So take the world
Apropos of the square
And cut off the corners
One here
One there
Practice makes perfect
So do it again
For cutting corners
Is the way of man

 Long Ago

MY LADY LOVE

I came to Cleveland for the cleavage
now my wife's my breast friend

She must be from Sweeten
since she's such a sweetie

 Gaze Into The Abyss

ONCE MORE ROUND THE BEND

Sucked into the spiral
going forward faster than leaving behind.

I walk beneath the shaded leaves
knowing neither name nor number
my life a mercy of luck's good fortune
and sense of humor
no way I've gotten this far and long on my own
gotta be a Joker in the deck
(who may be me)
with many a marked shard to spend.

Does the shoe worship the shoe-maker?
Does the foot fit the shoe?
Does the toe rule the foot?
The lace the tongue?
Or are they all appendages of each other's lie?

Dismal day grey
Cleveland rain fog and warm cold
beauty in the mist

Driving down shadow lane
in shallow frame of thought
stuff once carried on tip of tongue
now stored in dusty boxes back behind my brain.

Big Sycamore winter-bare reaching pre-sun light
trunk slow thinning
limbs branching smaller and smaller
till they fractualize sky
too small for our whys to see.

The sun comes up, the knives come out.

Wife looks at me with her cancer eye,
"I'm like a cat
I see the empty bowl
I want it full."

We go on.

 Outland
 

Today's LittleNip:

MEDITATION
—Smith

The ubiquitous
hibiscus unfolding
in full flowing.

____________________

Hearty thanks to Smith (Steven B. Smith) this morning for rocking us forward into another day of craziness! “The sun comes up, the knives come out… [but] we go on.”

Tonight at 8pm, Poetry Night in Davis presents Lanser Howard, Amanda Hawkins and Penny Kline via ZOOM, hosted by Andy Jones. To participate, visit ucdavisdss.zoom.us/my/andyojones at 8 PM, or a few minutes before that if you wish to chat with the other attendees. Info: www.facebook.com/events/703188086929794/?active_tab=about/.

And area poets will be saddened to hear that, according to the Sacramento Bee, Shine Cafe has permanently closed its doors. Shine hosted lots of readings, music and other arts events in their ten years, including a series by Bill Gainer at which Annie Menebroker and I read together, ‘way back near the beginning. For info about the closing, go to www.sacbee.com/food-drink/restaurants/article245024955.html/. This virus is hard on us all in so many ways. Day after day, it’s Grim And Bear It…

____________________

—Medusa

 —Photo by Smith

Photos in this column can be enlarged by
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.

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