Random, Abstract Poetry - The Sunday Edition

I take the Brooklyn Rail newspaper and underline words and phases in the articles that catch my attention. Then circle a word or phrase for the title. It's more of a subtractive process, taking a page of words and editing down to a poem or maybe several. It's kind of backwards from the traditional process of adding words to a blank page. But it works for me. The pieces of newspaper with these random abstract poems get used as collage material in my artwork. I create the artwork. My darker, semi-schizophrenic alter ego creates the poetry.

Global Warnings
The last prophecy from Greek mythology,
The world is flat.

It is a revised thesis discovered.
Powerful forces.
My analysis became obvious.

The convergence of,
Hot, crowded,
Dynamic shaping.
Flattening the world.

The information,
Graphs and napkin drawings.
Written in simple language.
Calculated to a wide spectrum.

The frog is hot.


A Speech About
The process is broken.
Crushed or sabotaged.
I can't remember which.

There was singing and dancing.
Speeches about,
I don't remember exactly what.

I do remember.
We have this power.
A power to make something small.
It was real.

Transmitted from television and FM radio.
I had the experience.
I saw.


An Outside Signal
In the mucky waters,
A voice began to speak.

He couldn't finish a sentence.
So he began to speak.

Cautious optimism, drowning.
Spoken in paralyzing pain.

Consider the future.
Things will not get better.
There is little doubt.
The system, a signal to all.


Embattled and Aloof
There were a lot of interesting people.
I was there.
Tilted toward philosophy.
Difficult, to a large extent.

Compliant to literature,
And ways to escape the program.

I did not exist,
And I cannot imagine.

Time running out.
The activity planned,
And prepared.

The people, hung.
I think most of us were.
To survive, was very liberating.


A Kind of Visceral Interchange
The relationship between shapes.
Shapes you have investigated.
I'm wondering,
Is that coincidental?

The tribe.
A group of painters.
Creating a kind of abstraction.

The art.
Very drawn to it.
Experimenting with shapes.
Very large rectangles.
In a way, Greek.

I was intrigued.
A complex experience with color.


They Became Negligible
An incapacity to locate.
He made a point not to.

For fear of not being able to,
To find his way back.

The successful approach.
Engaged to the present.

Dwellers for time.
Rather than the near.

Death itself is sophisticated.
The termination, successful.

A pretty girl plays the tuba.



We Are All Americans
It's sort of extending into the absurd.
We are all unified?
Everybody is adopted?
I wondered.

Our vision of reality.
It makes sense.
The equation is clearly revealed.
What was the impulse?

Two pieces,
Fractured and broken.
People talked about being,
Split into parts.
The pieces all the same.

The idea of many people.
So many people.
It's a brilliant idea.
Very efficient.


Your Personal Suburb
A mysterious row of trees.
What is hidden behind?

Let's go back.
I remember.

The beginning of visual accumulation.
Images of suburbs,
Dominate the world.
That fascinates you.

I try to figure out why.
So immersed in thinking.
It got me thinking.

Everything has to do with you.
Mowing your lawn.
The absurdity of the whole thing.


A Concrete Thought
Blacked out names.
I collect them.

I know you.
You think logically.

A different kind of thinking.
Like a Vietnamese proverb.
Live long, be thin.
Live round, be dead.

A vision of reality.
Real facts on index cards.
I'm flattered that you think.


Gleeful Spaniel?
Do you speak?
Or do I not?
I do not.
Nor I cannot.

You and I.
For you the more.
I am you.
And my the more.

You, me, I.
But you will see.
Unworthy I am.
To follow, than be.

To love and respect.
I beg in you.
To be your dog.
I speak in truth.