UNIVERSAL OBSCENITIES FROM THE SHADOWS OF A DONKEY’S ASS

Faceless men roaming the streets
with cleavers and precarious intentions

Homicidal Teddy Bears with blood-soaked mouths
carrying the bones of freshly devoured children,
chickens and squirrels

Good, honest men on P.C.P.
forced to carry bags of angry rats
and hand grenades

Wormholes opening up in the asses of sheep and cows,
pulling people, houses and refurbished electronics
into various dimensions

War machines rolling through the streets
covered in Christmas lights and painted-on flowers
giving genocide a more palatable experience

Our Super-Heroes are all sniffing glue
deep in the bushes of parks around the city

The United Nations disbanded because of lack of interest
and the overwhelming desire to see what the fuck
those little red buttons really do

The monkeys are on the move
preparing for a total insurrection

The earth has begun to crack down the middle
but nobody knows why because no one
showed up for work today

Call it Armageddon

Call it payback

Call it divine inevitability

I call it a chance to get stinking drunk
and throw sticks of dynamite
and large rocks off my balcony

Whimpers of Love

The noises you make
a kitten being born then
eaten by its mom.

There are no innocents

“I think you just need more experience to
understand hell as something possibly good”
—Eileen Myles

Long before they are legal
they try to crash the bars
with older sister’s photo ID’s
or the ones they stole from purses,
rifled for valuables, they lifted from
under bathroom stall doors in public
toilets or from pole hangers on
subways, buses, perfecting their
grab and run techniques as downtown
locals pull into stations for a stop.

Trying to pass cancelled plastic
is a game they play at chain stores
or supermarkets, claiming their
stepmoms had sent them on errands,
how were they supposed to know cards
were cancelled, maxed, expired?
all the while praying no one would
call their bluff.

If there was a black market
drug they hadn’t done twice, it hadn’t
made the rounds, or, was still
in an experimental stage.

The only books they’d read
since they’d reached the age
of reason were sex manuals they’d
committed to memory and perfected,
practicing their positions on men
older than their fathers if they had
lived long enough to reach the age of thirty.

Without makeup, mid-thigh miniskirts
and hair in pigtails, they might pass for
cute young things discussing their
sweet sixteen parties or dresses they’d
like to buy for their prom, instead of
whether they should hook for the money
to score some blotter and a lid, or whether
they should roll some old lady in an
alley for her grocery money and rent.

*dingding*

the door chimes as i walk in
it’s just me n the saleslady at the goodwill
she keeps telling me how good the 75 dollar queen size used mattress is
so good, she says, rubbing it
i had a nice mattress…i say
she’s like 100, i don’t think she hears me
you’ll love this, she says, sitting down on it
i can hear the metal springs groan as she bounces
i had a nice mattress…but it got punctured with a knife a bunch of times
so good, she says, stroking it with both hands
i had a nice mattress…but it got soaked in blood
she closes her eyes, head back, arms stretched,
hands gripping the sides,
moving her legs in a way
that’s got her dress climbing up them
exposing white flesh
and whiter flesh
and more wh—
bright pink (!?)
*dingding*
I’LL TAKE IT

i give her my credit card
we tied it to the top of my acura
and i took it home

carl my neighbor helps me push it up the stairs
then carl tries to follow me into the apartment
no carl, i got it, i say, pushing him out
where’s heather, he says
why’s it so cold in here
why’s it reek of bleach
cuz i just got my asshole done carl
*slam door*

i wake up next to heather
and we fool around some
but it’s not that good …
i have a realization
i’m just not that into her anymore
damn
i think i’m going to have to dump her

. . .

i bring the goodwill lady back to my apartment
she’s so old
she was probably going to die in her sleep tonight of old age anyway…

(snap.crackle.pop)
i roll her into a ball
using ducktape
so all that’s exposed is three holes (ass, pussy, mouth) (hee hee hee!)
*the sound ducktape makes when you rip it from the roll*
glchchglchrfphtfrippcht

a couple days later i spot pinhead carl
and his pinhead wife and 8 pinhead children walking back from taco bell.
as they’re climbing up the stairs
i roll her like a bowling ball
knocking them all down
sstrriike

oh shit
the apartment complex is going up in flames
i save carl’s wife and two eldest daughters
put em in the back of my van and go
i’m a hero

and when you save a life
that life is yours to take
if you want it

we’re going to have lots of fun girls

i mean women
/
i mean whatever you identify as
/
it’s cool with me
/
ur life is short
/
be what makes you happy now
/
cuz tomorrow
/
you could be dead
/
slash/slash/slash

hee hee hee!

 

 

the thing before the thing before the thing

because it’s nice to be young
because it’s nice to be in your
early to mid twenties
and it’s nice to do the thing
after you’ve done the thing

the thing that comes after you’ve
done the
thing is always
the same
but the thing that leads to the thing is
often different

this night it was white powder
they shared it neatly
between each other
and then climbed into bed

“Christ,” he said. “I still can’t believe you
sucked dick for this shit. And
a carload of it. What was it, like
four, five guys?”

“Oh, shut your hole, you pauper-ass.
If you had a job like a decent motherfucker
I wouldn’t have to do that shit, you know?”

“Shit, baby, don’t make this
trip worse than it is.”

“You started it.”

“Whatever, let’s just get to the next thing
already.”

“I haven’t even bathed. You know,
after taking on that carload…”

But it was too late to think.
the first thing kicked in
hard
and it lead to the other
and a brain wasn’t needed for any of them

and the cold wind blew
through the broken
window
and dried their sweat

Stains

he walked into the room
unaware of the cum stains on the floor
drinks were poured and drained
the dog was let out and fed
a few records spun
made dinner and ate
washed dishes
tried to read and write
but the drink overruled
went to bed
got up the next morning
poured coffee and went to work
he worked like a slave
the heat was brutal
excuses were made to walk inside
just to feel the air conditioning
felt as if he was dying a little each day
which he was
returned home
no kisses to greet him
unknowingly
the stains were gone

drinks were poured and drained…

the thinness of walls, 3

a crowd gathers outside room 13,
a battle rages inside –
i step from my room close by
as a woman screams –

scared faces look at me,
various people from various worlds –
‘do something,’ they say, without using words –
the proprietor runs up,
cops will be here soon,
but soon is not soon enough –

a woman screams again –
i kick in the door of room 13 –

a man holds a woman by the throat,
lets her go,
his hands clench into tight fists –
my hands clench too –

the first blow put him down –
blow after blow after blow,
knuckles bloodied,
bones broken –
knockout decision –

the woman looks at me,
grabs her clothes, steals his keys,
takes his car, and disappears clean –
i snatch up a rolled of bills,
a fat bag of dope,
and turn for the door –

the crowd thins, back to their hiding –
the proprietor says,
the cops will be here soon
but not soon enough –

i  make the interstate,
fade & flow into a shimmering night –
pull into a rest stop thirty miles east –
quartzsite, arizona

a beaten women frozen behind the wheel of a stolen
car looks at me,
waves meekly,
eyes glassy & gone
i give her half the cash recently acquired from an
unconscious man –

sometim​es life is worth everything,
sometimes only half –

Ballad of The Gas Station Checkout Girl

Have you ever seen
the afterglow
of one who decided
not to go–
decided… in the nick of time
that the time…wasn’t quite right
I noticed her
from far back in the line
I always look at wrists
When it was my turn
to buy beer and chips,
our eyes screamed together
and our hands touched
as she gave me change–
money…
always gets in the way