Simulacra

The Traditional Birthday

A strong man for the party
Arm wrestles at least three people at once

. . .


After the bar closes
Most everyone has a guitar and a cigarette

KF40 3-06

Went down to the Kite Fest
little kids
big kids
everywhere
kite goats, to the locals

Rope burned through pink palms
guiding textile missiles
smashing to the ground
to the right of me
to the left of me
children and parents running over me

Mounted patrols keep the peace
breachng height with horse
to retrieve kites
from the perimeter trees

Light breaks through the clouds
in windy beams
kids scream
by the bubble machine
do you see that?
the sail of Nylon in the morning

Remember Grace

Maris made some cookies
Andrew made some steak

Because we didn't thank the Lord
(a short and simple grace)

God put his wrath in their new couch
And showed us Mary's face

We Got Served

gathered to discuss the production of a parody
a drunk street dancing crew
freestyle drink dancing
realized it was st. patricks day
and we took our idea to the streets
we got served
(tuck the thumb)

. . .

searching for little people in the newport west lobby

Road Trip To C'Ville

A band called the Silver Jews.

. . .

A three-legged dog named Jada.

And Other Confusing and Interesting Signs

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Stupid Spring Break

Riding around town in a borrowed convertible


and yelling through all the tunnels

The End of a Friend of a Friend

An ordinary looking couch set off on an extra-ordinary mission
the couch has served the community well
had many good homes that took care of it
kept it's thin out-dated upholstery clean
therefore retro and not old

How many homes have you had?
how many apartments and friends has this couch survived
only now at the end of it's loyal career to be sent on a suicide mission

Next Stop: Brandon's place
Mission: reinforce the central seating arrangement
last weekend's drunken rage has the futon in a state of disrepair

Oh faithful sofa, did you foresee your end
after a life of calm you're going out "kamikaze"
like an ashtray
a textile sculpture mummified in a cheetah skin of cigarette blim burns

Goodbye. You served your sitters well

Mid-East Politics Speakers

Author David Lamb speaks to Tyler Marshall's Middle East Politics class at the Corcoran College of Art. He has written a couple national bestsellers, and The Arabs, one of the texts for our course.

. . .

Alireza Jafarzadeh came to a previous class to speak about the Iranian Nuclear Program. He is an expert on the subject.

Bridge Street Books, Mar 5

Bridge Street Books
a beautiful book store
across the bridge

Once a month I go to the readings there
(sometimes less)
to see the poets read their stuff
(sometimes more)

Ben and Tim came in from out of town
they are poets from north of here
both from far north of here
(one far further north than the other)

When they came to read their poems
they came with cameras:

one large and clunky
(took obscenely-coordinated snapshots)

one small in a pocket
(saved it's findings in a binary batch)

Tim and Ben used science-magic

to type poems into our ears
they used voices

We took their books away
because it's quainter to remember
(using older technology)

96 to 06

a decade of change

ten years of the same

three thousand, six hundred and three days

Good Friday 2006

Ed
Arrive: Washington, D.C.
for the three-day, Good Friday Weekend
from Pittsburgh

Via Denver
working at the auto parts store
cab driving on the weekends

Via Queens
installing alarm systems in skyscrapers
became married w/no kids

"Hey,
I haven't seen you for eight years!"

To: Joe Marquette/AP

Gossiping over beers at the end of the table
your name came up in a real-life fable

You weren't a hare, or tortise, or boar
your persona took form as a sweaty condor