Multitudes (2 page)
Authors: Margaret Christakos
Tags: #Poetry, #General, #Canadian, #Women Authors
BRINGING
In bringing in this gorilla
which lurches in2 soliloquy
This gorilla’s bewildered
This gorilla has a body so different …
it can’t b in th room
lacking or having
a strand of esophagus
garnished in something timid
This elephant
This shark, mastodon
Purple loosestrife n leeches
elevated in an elevator
then vapour.
It’s a room, in
camera with polyester,
fluorescence, aluminum
Park squirrels bioswarm th fibreglass
everybody knows it’s inebriating
There’s alutnarat
U wake one morning Phyllis
Diller wrestles a lion, familial reunion, then
voluminous fire gulfs or engorges
th community centre Local bricks
with explosive bellies arrow
Toxic smoke talks abt how lovable we r it
won’t shut up but exudes …
different
deeffinrt
tnereffid
Rows of chairs engrommetted in a factory
backroom so workers can surf
People
online n chew Nicorettes It’s
online n chew Nicorettes It’s
adolescent lemur stuck in th stall
sideways Flock of
cormorants n juice boxes
donated by Nestlé Sleeves bleached
properly Antihistamines distributed
impressive Seniors paying federal
taxes without question.
I so enjoy breathing alongside
a scenario of refuge when 2 zoo-born
giraffes go up in a figure 8
firework, limegreen leaf bits
showering a petite rainfall on
my April hairless forearm.
We r as abellov as Nature is.
There r flecks of sanguinity in our sideburned
quietude, dusky institched voices while mature elk herds
ligature the building lobbing homeopathy against
multiple extinction rumours This Dictaphone
this Morse
this Spirograph Kaypro n Letraset
peel black its backing
then poster Burn ur bra
Take back th night Hold others 2 sluggish
account Believe in rainforest
4 th trees 4 what they r
bringing in –
In bringing in this gorilla
which lurches in2 soliloquy
This gorilla’s bewildered
This gorilla has a body so different
it can’t b in th room
lacking or having
a strand of esophagus
garnished in something timid
If it could b, it would arise that way, but I think we agree
it cannot.
GIRL IN PARK WITH HULA
Haey, u know
who is watching, hippie-girl. I fit in2
u like a waist
inside a hoop yahe yaeh hyae
Famous waist, a
hula hoop, she loves u
ahye haye yeah.
If melancholia, or pleasure, encircles, with its rhythmhtyhr
n its ringingnignir
as long as it is gnivomoving, it
displaces a plain 1970s telling.
But I don’t think melancholia, or
pleasure, is th problem exactly. I’m thinking
ur summoning a park
around that hoop, n a city
around that park, n concentric rings of wifi around that city
n well y wouldn’t u with those magique
contempo-hips
which r a nuisance
th multitudes want 2 ride under, actually, I’m not dead yet, sister,
or have u riding us.
After all, bodies beckon bodies with their gninaomoaning.
I wonder if th immediate seesaw ng of th present
in a half-kempt hipster park
is th hula hyae ehay heay
is th hoop that
rather than encircling u
keeps ur cunt far from th commons, 4
we know it’s not just me on my rickety bench, a
poet
4 god’s sake,
poet
4 god’s sake,
performing something really special n
retro.
THE FOLLOWING USER
[SAYS THANK YOU TO MN RENOVATOR FOR THIS USEFUL POST:]
[SAYS THANK YOU TO MN RENOVATOR FOR THIS USEFUL POST:]
Warm air: A = in, B = in. Hot water: A = out,
B = in. Electric: A = in, B = out. Turns on th blower
as soon as flames 4 heat. From a drafty back study
central exposed front room well away from th windows.
I was having exactly th same old n malfunctioning
problem. Ur own personal load-test data is maybe switching
some pre-set limit. Don't forget is something
we should do right
LOL
. So there I go re-engineering a gizmo
LOL
. So there I go re-engineering a gizmo
that isn't broken again with short plenum 8 cm below
th damped-off joints. Colder air is denser more oxygen
n slits fresh. Inducer has vibration 2 it but I cranked
2 Hi. I just KNOW somebody's going 2 tell me 2 check
th manual.
IT’S LIKE I COULD DO SOMETHING
for Lena Dunham
it’s like i could do something with my voice i couldn’t do b4 because it’s not clear 2 me y i should feel any differently n bsides i paid 4 this with my own money i earned it ergo it’s mine / there’s some consistency u just want 2 watch out 4 if u r th bad friend so much harder than comfortable n dripping abt th
waistline since anyone over 18 has th option of a buy-back plan / put those words out there n i’m not responsible 4
their blank lotto tickets n vandalized subway stations / simple statements like a hangover
jog up an offseason boardwalk or like th stench of lilies around easter
yecchh
chisel my patience / th point was impropriety – urs – being kissed at dusk n
loving it so th junkie downstairs cd hear everything that was messy n inarticulate
regarding major plans 4 th webcam / th other thing u need 2 know right abt now is that i
might b extricating myself from this collapsing resto deal as a person has 2 stay in th
clear n narrow of their own generational aspirations / a person has only those near around
him 2 care 4 when it comes right down 2 that last commuter train 2 th end of th line
that crosses over its own shortcut
waistline since anyone over 18 has th option of a buy-back plan / put those words out there n i’m not responsible 4
their blank lotto tickets n vandalized subway stations / simple statements like a hangover
jog up an offseason boardwalk or like th stench of lilies around easter
yecchh
chisel my patience / th point was impropriety – urs – being kissed at dusk n
loving it so th junkie downstairs cd hear everything that was messy n inarticulate
regarding major plans 4 th webcam / th other thing u need 2 know right abt now is that i
might b extricating myself from this collapsing resto deal as a person has 2 stay in th
clear n narrow of their own generational aspirations / a person has only those near around
him 2 care 4 when it comes right down 2 that last commuter train 2 th end of th line
that crosses over its own shortcut
i hope i’m not unmaking myself invisible!
i hope i’m erasing what u liked abt me because it’s suffocating 2 b tender n in ur fat spot with e-readers you’ve propagated across th sunrise in a whole other time zone
in a whole other time zone
when rates r lowest n several custodians here r eating canned macaroni that’s seriously putrid / there’s abt 15 minor phonetical conjunctions i might lift n resuscitate in an entirely gutted
soho gallery space but have 2 say there’s a lot on my mind that u can’t necessarily hear me thinking – u just have 2 trust me on that one like u just have 2 trust my sense of timing n my pretty excellent
in a whole other time zone
when rates r lowest n several custodians here r eating canned macaroni that’s seriously putrid / there’s abt 15 minor phonetical conjunctions i might lift n resuscitate in an entirely gutted
soho gallery space but have 2 say there’s a lot on my mind that u can’t necessarily hear me thinking – u just have 2 trust me on that one like u just have 2 trust my sense of timing n my pretty excellent
boundaries
SONG OF THAT POET
That poet
That poet was not
That poet was not an emperor
That poet was not an emperor wearing
That poet
That poet was wearing something
That poet was not an emperor wearing nothing
That poet was trying 2 get something
That poet had a line n some hoopla
Had th voice of a generalist n dungarees on his knees
That poet had a beat
A streetbeat
That poet had eyes like beads
Like little black beads
That poet was wearing a few sequins
That poet was clothed in
That poet was a frequent poet
That poet used 2 b John Barlow
That poet used 2 stop himself in th middle of a long line n giggle
That poet knew what was a longing line n what was a place to stop it
He could quench it
That poet was not an emperor
That poet was plum naked
That poet knew nothing useful n everything else
That poet had his clothes on all right
That poet was tightrope-teetering on2 his next languorous lingo
That poet was crossing all sorts of giddy ponderings
When’s th last time u heard him
That poet
That poet was no emperor
That poet John Barlow.
I remember back in th day
I remember back in th Walt vault
Who do we have 2 subpeona 2 get John Barlow back onstage
Who do we need on our panel
What poet knows th poet who knows John Barlow
What poet
What’s th point of that poet
What do u get out of th way when u get that poet
What do u want 2 get from me here, right now
What song
What old saw
What cool hula trickery with th alphabet
Tell me what u want
Tell me when u want it, people
I am not an emperor
I am wearing my dungarees
I am ready to workshop
I am here so plum
So naked n jiggling
CITY HALL (TORONTO) 2012
for Jack Layton
1
Almost
nobody wants it
t/here now. Expanse or courtyard, field encased
concrete, flattened plain perfect 4 crowd control.
Array th horses eh.
Riot lines enter westward. Lasers’ aim, crosscutting vulnerable
capital. Th Moore. Th arcs. Hoses could pump foam, fell
leather uppers. Martial snipers let’s face it would
have an absolute field day. Encircle
n stride. Traverse.
Everybody gets de-authoritative. Entire ethnicities used 2 bbq
like there’s no tomorrow.
One by one business people cross th eradicated
square. Nobody wants. No mirrors anywhere. Or chalk.
Civic property that belongs 2
no one. Why protest what’s empty?
2
Array horses 4 everyone.
Riot lines can bbq.
Split t/here.
Civic property that belongs 2 no one.
When do u. Wants nobody.
Why protest. Mirrors anywhere.
3
encircle n stride. traverse. stride n traverse, encircle.
why protest what’s empty. what belongs 2 no one.
traverse stride n encircle. stride encircle traverse.
everybody wants authoritative. recall civic. Jack memory.
encircle. traverse n stride. absolute field day.
riot lines enter westward or courtyard, field encased.
almost anybody t/here. expanse of a threshold. when do we.
Stride
Encircle
Converse.
4
There’s no mirrors anywhere. No
empty
WHAT
?
WHAT
?
Tomorrow just one
repurposed
WHAT DO
?
WHAT DO
?
Square of thresholds.
With citizenly footsteps. Split. Recall
WHAT DO WE
?
WHAT DO WE
?
Jack. Civic memory. Everybody gets
entire. Our
DO WE WANT
?
DO WE WANT
?
Citizenly field day. Enter
westward,
WHAT DO WE
? crosscutting
WHAT DO WE
? crosscutting
WANT
? expanse or
WHEN DO WE
?
? expanse or
WHEN DO WE
?
courtyard
WANT IT
?
WANT IT
?
NOW
.
.
Perfect 4 CROWD
NOW
.
.
Perfect 4 CROWD
NOW
.
.
Perfect 4 CROWD
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