racked balls break over
blue felt
_______fingertips
as feet for the shot
behind the table a mirror
that no longer works &
obama on the live cross
declares, “at stake now is not
just our ability to solve this
problem but our ability
to solve any problem”,
though the tv’s on mute
beer threatening to strand us
beyond such misery
(scotch is a promise)
_______________the
game-lifting sweetspot
long gone
________going for the
8-ball suicide mission
wading this quadruple
vision cannot be
blinked away
___________the
video juke entertains:
extended adbreak
looping insatiably
_________left
stranded by language
______________jim
gets himself ejected
shouting, “every hour is…
amateur hour” over & over
while punching himself
in the head
stranded by language
______________jim
gets himself ejected
shouting, “every hour is…
amateur hour” over & over
while punching himself
in the head
Such a good poem, makes me feel like my favorite sad song. I am left with no words, only emotions stayed.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mariana.
ReplyDeleteI gave this poem its first airing at a spoken word gig last night. It's still a work in progress, but it got a good response from the crowd.
can i suggest ending on the high of "...punching himself in the head"--and cutting the "stranded by language part"? (ps. i like it!)
ReplyDeleteGood one Stu.
ReplyDelete(What he should have said: "What's at stake now is our being the problem".)
Hey Jal, thanks for the suggestion - I realise the ending is pretty tentative.
ReplyDeleteI feel that maybe this poem should fizzle out rather than going out with a bang, but the ending as it stands is problematic.
The 'stranded by language' bit was actually imported from a draft of something. I agree it's not quite right.
Thanks TC, and touche!
ReplyDeleteLooks like Obama's health care reforms may now go through, although I expect that'll lead to a backlash in the midterms.