Archive for January, 2009
Praise Song for the Bagel, A Poem for Watching Barack Obama’s Presidential Inauguration on TV
Each morning we go and do our business,
we flush and we jump in the shower
or not, drying and then dressing.
All inside us is hunger. All inside us is pang and rumble, yearn and ache, we long for something touching our tongues.
Someone is scrambling an egg, boiling water for coffee, Popping a Tart, heating the things that taste better hot.
A woman in a hairnet waits on tables. A line cook examines the melting butter. A hostess says Please. Let me seat you now.
Say it plain: that many have slaved over this meal. Sing the names of those who brought it here, who plowed the fields, planted the crops,
picked the onions and the wheat, kneaded batch by batch the glorious dough they would then roll into perfect little rings.
Praise song for the bakers, praise song for the meal. Praise song for every boiled little bite, the chewing-it-up at kitchen tables.
Some live by you are what you eat, others by an apple a day keeps the doctor away. But what if the mightiest food is bagels?
Praise song for getting something in our stomachs.
All inside us is hunger. All inside us is pang and rumble, yearn and ache, we long for something touching our tongues.
Someone is scrambling an egg, boiling water for coffee, Popping a Tart, heating the things that taste better hot.
A woman in a hairnet waits on tables. A line cook examines the melting butter. A hostess says Please. Let me seat you now.
Say it plain: that many have slaved over this meal. Sing the names of those who brought it here, who plowed the fields, planted the crops,
picked the onions and the wheat, kneaded batch by batch the glorious dough they would then roll into perfect little rings.
Praise song for the bakers, praise song for the meal. Praise song for every boiled little bite, the chewing-it-up at kitchen tables.
Some live by you are what you eat, others by an apple a day keeps the doctor away. But what if the mightiest food is bagels?
Praise song for getting something in our stomachs.
20
01 2009
Old Habits
I was blackout drunk,
and I surely stunk
of sweat and dirt and vomit
when I went to that joint
up at Downer’s Point,
hadn’t been there since Halley’s Comet.
But they knew me there
and they poured my share,
made it stiff as rigor mortis,
kept filling my cup
’til the sun came up,
and I rolled out like a tortoise.
Next thing I knew
I was coming to
in my ex- ex- ex-girlfriend’s apartment,
the sun shone unbearable
my head pounded terrible
like a fire at the fire department.
Still I gasped out her name
when I witnessed her frame,
stale and lifeless on the floor by the sink,
my onions were mussed
with fresh blood on my crust
and I thought What’s my AA group gonna’ think?
19
01 2009
onion bar baby
i met her at an onion bar
i could see in her eyes she was gone pretty far
she said “look at my tattoo!” but she pointed to a scar
we danced at the onion bar
she pulled me in the bathroom smoke so thick you could scoop it with a spoon the music was muffled but the drums they still boomed we kissed in the bathroom
i said “how do i know you ain’t gonna bust me?” she said “didn’t i tell you you could never trust me?” i pulled out my toaster, but it was kinda rusty she had a bagel, and it was kinda musty
but that didn’t stop us
we sat around and ate some more we sat around and ate some more we sat around and ate and then
i tried to drop the bagel and grab onto her hips but she said “you gotta hold it steady, so the cream cheese doesn’t smear across my lips”
she pulled me in the bathroom smoke so thick you could scoop it with a spoon the music was muffled but the drums they still boomed we kissed in the bathroom
i said “how do i know you ain’t gonna bust me?” she said “didn’t i tell you you could never trust me?” i pulled out my toaster, but it was kinda rusty she had a bagel, and it was kinda musty
but that didn’t stop us
we sat around and ate some more we sat around and ate some more we sat around and ate and then
i tried to drop the bagel and grab onto her hips but she said “you gotta hold it steady, so the cream cheese doesn’t smear across my lips”
16
01 2009
Sonnet II
stopping by Starbuck’s showed I was busted
for when I ordered my caffé latte
seems my credit card couldn’t be trusted
’twas on account of the economy
with only cash enough for a bagel redfaced I hurriedly made for the door stashed a pistol in my trousers’ leg hole ran to the bank, made them lay on the floor
“I’ve got a gun! it’s here in my jacket! now empty the vault! while I take a bite!” dreams of the wealth I’d make from this racket stopped short — for my bagel didn’t taste right
cops declared I was easy to run in (gun in my mouth, and coat smeared with onion)
with only cash enough for a bagel redfaced I hurriedly made for the door stashed a pistol in my trousers’ leg hole ran to the bank, made them lay on the floor
“I’ve got a gun! it’s here in my jacket! now empty the vault! while I take a bite!” dreams of the wealth I’d make from this racket stopped short — for my bagel didn’t taste right
cops declared I was easy to run in (gun in my mouth, and coat smeared with onion)
15
01 2009
a crossing
black bordered
yellow diamond
your silhouetted shapes
within
drive me to look
within
myself
am i like this diamond?
am i bordered by blackness? am i yellow? am i filled with shapes so simple:
one large ring followed closely by three smaller ones?
the questions cross my mind the answers cross my lips
yes
yes
a dozen times —
oh, wait those aren’t onion bagels
they’re ducks
am i like this diamond?
am i bordered by blackness? am i yellow? am i filled with shapes so simple:
one large ring followed closely by three smaller ones?
the questions cross my mind the answers cross my lips
yes
yes
a dozen times —
oh, wait those aren’t onion bagels
they’re ducks
14
01 2009
request from an onion bagel eater
you can tell me that i’m crazy
that i haven’t got a clue,
or argue that i’m stupid
i won’t claim that’s untrue,
feel free to call me ugly
since my eyebrows are askew,
just don’t say that i have bad taste
or darling, we are through
13
01 2009
a series of revelations
well
well
well
what have we here?
looks like the shoe is on the other foot
and by “shoe” __i mean “onion”
and by “foot” ____i mean “bagel”
and by “we” ______i mean “oui”
because i’m actually french
what have we here?
looks like the shoe is on the other foot
and by “shoe” __i mean “onion”
and by “foot” ____i mean “bagel”
and by “we” ______i mean “oui”
because i’m actually french
