Last night was the long-awaited double feature of Julia Carlson and Lee Varon. There were many depictions of criminal behavior on the open mic, old and new, from Al Capone to Donald Trump. It definitely helped spin this poem into something unexpected. Thanks, everyone. Hope to see all of you and more at St. Paul's next week.
Scandalous
The path of rights and wrongs
are paved with claims of credit
from everyone else, blame for you.
To walk it takes love
greater than your health.
When you're no longer young,
you try to figure out
how to keep beauty and truth
as the same thing,
clone your soul repeatedly
so the job doesn't notice
you're keeping it at home,
easier than keeping your head
for the same rent you paid
over ten years ago.
They'll cure your pain if the numb
helps you arrive on time,
pick up the phone, field offers.
Meanwhile, your grandparents
wait for natural causes
to take their family's enemies
who got away with everything,
retired to the cottages
atop hills immune to grievance,
finally telling their tales
to the pariahs you married,
chagrin spilling forefront
in your fantasy inquisition,
surrendering secrets
and enemies to the rack
over and over until
they're their own altars,
by way of defiling the town church.
And all you can say is wow,
how did you pull that off?
The path of rights and wrongs
are paved with claims of credit
from everyone else, blame for you.
To walk it takes love
greater than your health.
When you're no longer young,
you try to figure out
how to keep beauty and truth
as the same thing,
clone your soul repeatedly
so the job doesn't notice
you're keeping it at home,
easier than keeping your head
for the same rent you paid
over ten years ago.
They'll cure your pain if the numb
helps you arrive on time,
pick up the phone, field offers.
Meanwhile, your grandparents
wait for natural causes
to take their family's enemies
who got away with everything,
retired to the cottages
atop hills immune to grievance,
finally telling their tales
to the pariahs you married,
chagrin spilling forefront
in your fantasy inquisition,
surrendering secrets
and enemies to the rack
over and over until
they're their own altars,
by way of defiling the town church.
And all you can say is wow,
how did you pull that off?
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| By the way, the podium made it back. |
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| Perhaps a little optimistic about the numbers, but there's always next month. |
Special thanks to Michael Igoe, Krystal, Chris Fitzgerald, Erik Nelson, Nancy Messom, Jan Rowe, Martha Boss, James Van Looy, Lee Varon and Julia Carlson.
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