buy me a sweatshirt with the word “staff” written
in big white letters across the chest and back
(ok, why for?)
i’ll wear it to the zoo, the department of revenue
the health club, the museum of natural history
i’m cutting random wires, rewriting map legends
offering third opinions with freelance daredevil authority
(i was there when they invented slam dancing
i know how to give and receive love)
i’m blocking all downtown midday heart-attack madness
for emergency yard sales
i declare this alley, these loose bricks, burnt newspapers
this pile of ford pinto, an institution, i declare it sculpture
today’s special: with every coffee purchase get a free cup
napkin, donut, and surprise bitch-slap
(thank you have a nice day please come again)
i’m giving blue ribbons for duct tape pipedreams
hosting poetry readings in tattoo parlors
i’m joining random counterculture revolutions
to meet pretty woman and collect free bumper stickers
i’m doing the freak-show-bar-hop, i’m performing human folly
(hello, pleased to me you, my name is staff)
i’m running barefoot thru seasons, mainstreets and mindsprings
my survival is hop-scotch thru the minefields
i’m washing my face with rainwater
cleaning my eyes with true grit
thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk-
my shopping cart masturbates in public
(i lost my label, my brand name, my reference number
took a giant academic sized dump, flushed and it was gone
i’m existing without permission
wandering without a guild
without a pepsi grin, a juicy ass to kiss, a walmart hand-job)
all these towers of high standards, all these glass monsters
looking down on me, scolding me:
you can’t bend spoons with your eyeballs
can’t play piano with a baseball bat
wear your hat as you please (inside or out)
you can’t bitch-slap your customers
you won’t make any money writing jalopy literature
don’t expect us to take you seriously
- bite me
yours truly
staff
***note:
words to live by i think, happy new year everyone, see you all in the year of the “black earth”
