songanddancegirl

TEARS

BRISKET & TEARS

he grew more pinched each time i appeared

even when books sold i had to be bold   ahem

want to settle up?  oh ya sure   perma-sneer

firmly in place   face pleasantly porcine

today he handed me 2 remaining copies   we need

room  lots of new poetry stuff coming in   sharklike

grin   but you’ve sold 10   have you sold 10 of liz smart?

or gert stein?

prostration stopped short of damnation  or the hundreds

of words in next collection will wander west queen west

dispossessed  alone  moaning periodically   +giving off the

scent of desperation  +gertrude’s final brisket

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It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much

doing nothing, really doing nothing.  Gertrude Stein 

Summer 2016

KIDS

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT?

1/3 of all Ontario high school students are

suffering from moderate to severe depression

+ anxiety   This an alarming leap from 2013

when only 1/4 rated their mental health as fair

to poor

Why would this be the case?   In a world where a

man with yellow hair +a perma-tan is the newest

opoid  of the masses   Forget hillbilly heroin  the

Donald is: cultural heroin  according to the Atlantic

Monthly   Then there’s  Melania  real housewife from

hell   teasing us with bromides cribbed from  Michelle!

Let’s face it  the kids are spending 5 hrs a day plugged

in   wondering when the next lone wolf is coming to a

theatre near you   And worrying about a virus found recently

in  Culex quinquefaciatus  a mosquito 20 times more common

than the one behind Dengue

We have yet to find an exotic alien civilization  +are faced with

the cold realization  that humanity may be truly alone   Except

for the man with yellow hair: Americans call them hillbillies,

rednecks, white trash, but I call them friends +family

Kids  your life is ahead of you  the world your oyster!  Bromides+

platitudes   Grab hold of the chair in your parent’s kitchen  + don’t

let them pry your fingers off  or tempt you with slogans like:

Real war heroes don’t get captured

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Summer 2016