AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH I ACCIDENTLY DOUBLE PAID BOTH OF MY CREDIT CARDS FOR A TOTAL OF ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS SO NOW I HAVE NO MONEY BUT ONE OF THOSE CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS WAS OVER THE BALANCE SO THEY ARE SENDING ME A CHECK BUT I WONT GET IT FOR 30 DAYS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 >:o

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH I ACCIDENTLY DOUBLE PAID BOTH OF MY CREDIT CARDS FOR A TOTAL OF ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS SO NOW I HAVE NO MONEY BUT ONE OF THOSE CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS WAS OVER THE BALANCE SO THEY ARE SENDING ME A CHECK BUT I WONT GET IT FOR 30 DAYS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 >:o

drank, drank. ate, drank, ran into a fence. drank drank. yes there was this fence across the street of some street. ten feet high. there were no signs that said, "BEWARE, FENCE!" and so i ran right into the fence at full speed on my bicycle. my head hurts now that i think about it, and not just because what we drank. its the second time that i ran full speed into a chain link fence. the other time was when i was riding my bike away from cops when i was a sophmore in highschool. i hadn't done anything illegal but it was late and the cops were chasing. it is not a good thing to run full speed into a chain link fence on a bike. it is a bad thing. this ten foot high chain link fence. at least they give. at least it wasn't a stone wall or a bus.

mississippi

haft headed i shan’t dance, decked.
o’ jolly, she battle hymns of unmarked graves,
prairie college dunce for more medicine, to cure,
to leave & come back, knows
where they bury them all. ‘in hell,’ she says.
barge sail by arm toward the south, rising
down beneath the gulf of mexico’s,
where earth, pools her words,
pelican belly gathering in hattiesburg,
& siphons the sludge of your somber prayers
say:
dream to me in drawl, boy,
wandering beyond moon or tide, sulfur stench in the sky,
& i will take you with me, again, ‘to hell,’ she says.
tip-toe from the mouth, through & through.


american wildlife

peaking when we pine
porous as the wind leaves,
needles we drink until we poke.
restless on the edge of indian statue,
he points
at the wine inside us, abandoning
broken body on the plains
near the caged bison, caribou. wandering.
they whisper into our ears
with their thick whiskered tongues,
but we cannot understand their words.
only the cud grinding
& the pant of boredom, where the flies
feast on manna in each eye, beast to naming beast,
reflecting the disaster inside us;
a swelling thing easily ignored.


after

he comes out of the room, one room the other wasn’t in,
with a towel around his neck
& his hair slicked back, looking ghastly ill.
he comes
dark rings around the eyes,
& the other sits on the sofa, but doesn’t
look up,
pouring a drink into a glass. slow.
inside something is changing their minds.
he hears the ice move, but keeps walking towards it.


the basic horn

whimpers in white, louder than song,
but you disagree, listening
in the darkness as the cat cries, & cries
& we never know when to say:
do not do this
or just do this, “scram,”.
left or right,
correcting my neckline, strangling tie, loosely drawn
so the loop of thigh echoes by nipple, down arm,
agreeing to clench at the same time
claw clinging to all the furniture
we bought together, flea markets, something, etc.,
before everything is blown,
again this is louder than we can hold between
small apartment walls,
out of proportion a second too late
knocking on the unlatched door
to find me there.

No submissions or poems that have been previously published. We consider “published” is published. This includes small, private editions, and even poems previously posted on blogs and personal web sites. - orange and sardines publication

canoe #1

lewis &
clarked my way from indian
caves
to cherry county,
swindling along the big dirty missouri
stay
as far away from the iowan banks as possible
catfish salt, bottom feeder
under the nose when i hear those riverboats whistle
come hither
dear gambler
the pearly gates are open wide

canoe #2

bending my near broken buffalo collar
bone down the winding
niobrara
she lays lady finger
between each western rib.
my skin ripples
in pond
telling me which water snake will bite
my face sweet & lonesome
beneath an other-
worldly sun tanning my hide
naked in a boat

im finally out of the medical study for good. next sunday im going to host a writers group at my house. 7pm. 1121 D st. everyone will be there!

pale horse

when i want him he will come
to my door,
my eye.
i will look at him with all of my hands, holy
to trust.
never forget
the face of a complete stranger
when his sword strikes me down
& burns within me.
when there is nothing left but his love,
or hell below.

-------------------------------

hubris

the sun does not shine for lowly me
the moon is but a mirror for thee
raising tides along a darkened sea
tricking all to think there may be three

-------------------------------

no hibernate

wind doesn’t even move
so swift
when moisture becomes wicked

it hangs thick on branches
or on the roof top shingles of homes

& at night everything lights up.

you close your eyes,
take graying images in freeze frame
while molecules of empty noise expand.

a shiver moves past you from somewhere off
while you think about sleeping,
tired from several months of digging
with your numb hands.

i just spoke to an incredibly stupid woman. first she asked me if i was a spy for obama because obama is listening to everyones phonecalls and doing survelience on people. i said no. later in the survey when i asked her about health care she said that she didn't have health care because she was unemployed and couldn't afford it. obama you evil man, trying to give this woman health care. she told me her blood pressure was high because he son went to iraq to defend his country. TO DEFEND HIS COUNTRY. defense. she said she was a pentacostal christian and i asked if she wanted me to put down protestant and she said no im a pentacostal. so, like MOST ignorant christians, i had to put down that she was an OTHER christian religion. apparently there are SEVERAL different christian religions. she then said she was a republican but that she didnt know if she was a conservative or a liberal. she asked her daughter, who apparenlty didnt know what her mother was. she said i think im a conservative but i dont believe in all that hooha.

it is because she is undeducated. all of it. oh and she also has been living off of unemployment for OVER A YEAR. 1500 DOLLARS A MONTH. THAT IS MORE THAN I MAKE AT MY JOB. DOING A JOB. AND SHE IS A REPUBLICAN MY ASS. get this damn liberal out of the white house god dammit so we can WORK FOR OUR SHIT. go fuck yourself republicans.

i wrote a bunch of poems this morning. my mom yelled at me when i asked for a ride to work. im applying to be a liquor store manager. i finally trimmed off the long section of hair on the back of my head that stuck up all the time. im at work right now. i trimmed my mustache. i will have to shave my beard if i get this job. i really dont like that. i like my beard. i miss ellen and i hope she misses me too. im going to buy a bus ticket to see her next week. the ticket will be 21 days after i buy it though because thats how long i have to buy in advance to get the best price. which is essential. im seriously considering this portland thing. though i will have to see what ellen is doing, and if people are actually moving to colorado. i think i would like to live in portland. or somewhere. i dont like that i have so many relatives on facebook. i dont like that my relatives are politically irrational morons. religious mostly. i dont like that my dad said god spoke to him about being a bad parent and now hes going to try harder. that really pissed me off.