June is here! Which means that the 8th annual Montreal international infringement festival is coming up fast. Last year I displayed paintings, which I will be doing again, at Xpression Gallery. I am also hosting the spoken word show at the Concordia co-op bookstore on June 21st.
During the month of June, I will be posting poetry for the month, some of which I may perform in the festival.
… And they’re off!
I sit here waiting
Ready to spring forth
Holding my breath,
Waiting
For the gate
To open
I hear the bugle call, the gate opens,
And from a standstill we all leap forwards, fast into a quick gallop,
Running like the wind
Around the track
We’ve all got weird names,
And then there’s the money
That our owners and sponsors have bet
On or against us
I’m running round the track with all my might,
Competing against thirteen other horses
And if I lose
I’m good as glue.
The Better Mousetrap
After many years of research
And clinical trials
I found myself still wondering
Couldn’t keep from pondering
After many years of frustrations
In what I’m trying to do
I may think I have the answer
But it ends up in a stew
Everything I’ve tried
Just turned out wrong
I’m trying to invent it
The mice just scurry along
But, I’ve found an answer
That’s been here all along
God’s made a better mousetrap
The notion hit me like a gong
Though the mice may scurry
And seem to escape
My mousetrap is furry
And hunts them
But human greed,
Seems to be in the way
Legions of people to pay
Who insist on a spray
And they, should stay, away!
After many years of research
And clinical toils
To build a better mousetrap
Previously foiled
But now I know the answer
So simple at that
The best type of mousetrap
Is known as…
…The cat.
Things we lost in the fire.
There was a fire
Back at the old house
And we were lucky to escape with our lives
We couldn’t afford insurance,
And we’re lucky to have survived
But of the things I now desire
Include the things I lost in the fire
Like
My typewriter, and my TV set,
My fan and my chairs
My diplomas from school,
My safety power bars,
cables, and wires
All things I lost in the fire.
There was a fire
That an arsonist had set
Back in the old place
We couldn’t afford insurance then,
And we’re lucky we could stay with friends
But of the things that I currently desire
Were among the things we lost in the fire
My golf clubs, and my gardening gear
The lawnmower, the phone,
Left behind in fear,
The fridge and the washer,
The microwave and the dryer,
All of those things we lost in the fire
There was a fire
That an arsonist had set
Back in the old place
We had no insurance then,
We were lucky that we could stay with friends
But of all the things I still desire
Were the irreplaceables lost in the fire
Like all my paintings, on which I worked so hard
My diplomas from school, which I had to earn
That fucking arsonist had to burn
Along with my records,
And all else above
There was a fire
And I got burned.
