attack of the babbling acrobats (2nd draft)

(for all the fringe artists out there feeling a little beat-up)

 

acrobats

damn those goofy fools

and their rubber bones

who drag their wild weather

wherever they go

so ferociously flexible

so transcendental  

so rude

 

acrobts are the leading cause of jungle gyms,

giggle-ism and restless leg syndrome

 

acrobats are like sugary snacks, they’ll ruin your dinner

evil playmates who eat birthday cake

all year long

 

worst of all, acrobats will steal your tv, so easily

and so completely, you won’t remember owning one

 

all acrobats wear bullet-proof jackets, just in case in snows

all acrobats wear ugly hats, except those who don’t

 

acrobats prefer their rimband served raw

with three kinds of wine, none of them french

 

acrobats make and trade the most horrible things:

chinese finger traps

left-handed puddle shovels

egyptian ice cream forks

poetry and totem poles   

and worst of all, nun flavored chewing gum

 

all acrobats have loose screws, which makes them rattle

like spare change in the dryer

some call it music, some call it inspired

songs that sound like lunatic finger-strumming rubberband lips  

 

nobody like lunatic acrobat music, except those who do

 

acrobats like to feed baby ducks on the grave of dee dee ramone

beloved king of acrobats

 

               and worst of all

we need to build a wall, to keep them contained

some kind of acrobat habitat

 

but what is it exactly

that makes them so dangerous to cardboard cutout society?

too quick with a joke? too fast on their feet? too many tricycles on flimsy highwires?

dancing on beach balls? running around thinking their own thoughts?

 

damn them! damn them all to kansas!

 

and how do we defeat them?

some call an exterminator

some scrape away the bad brainwaves with a hot coat hanger

some bang their heads on church bells

some cuss out the waiter and leave one percent tips

some get their yawn on, and try to forget

some bury their heads in suburban homesteads and wallow in comfortable sorrow

but not me

i’ve got acrobats in my attic

and couldn’t be happier 

 

posted for shay's word garden word list

red truck in bookstore (2nd draft)

 

the artist calls it

red truck in bookstore

like

still-life

like

white flowers in vase by window

or

pond with clouds over mountain

stuff like that

but different

 

inspired by the red truck that crashed into the old capitol hill bookstore last night

on the corner of colfax and grant

soon after, people gathered to gawk

just looky-loos  

but some of them were painters

and some of them got excited at this rare opportunity to paint

red truck in bookstore

and set up their rigs

 

and look here, the artist was clever

under the right front wheel

a children’s book with a cartoon red truck on the cover

 

sadly, some can't shake the universe

and catch ripe fruit falling

some can’t look directly at

red truck in bookstore

and turn away, instead they paint

old honda with flat tire

or

broken bottle in gutter

or

stray dog pissing on dumpster

 

as for method and technique, it was a fortunate disaster

imagine the exact moment the art happened

drunk teenagers texting in red truck spinning out over median and crash into bookstore

imagine painting that!

 

imagine the glory, imagine all the art critics wetting their pants

imagine the headlines:

last night, a red truck crashed headfirst into another red truck inside the capitol hill bookstore 

one real as red steel, the other a fairytale, witnesses claim “art copies life”

no fatalities reported, rescue crews and postmodern art students working around the clock

 

personally, i like

red truck in bookstore

its brave, its original, its like, both urban and quaint all squished together

its colorful, if you like endless layers of red

yes, i really do like

red truck in bookstore

just not on my block

red truck in bookstore

 (from cbs news 7, denver)