Tag: set42815

“A Throne!”


“You, you,” he points at you,
“You can’t be in my audience,”
And collapses.

There are no stagehands here
To shuffle away his bones,
“It’s a one man show!”

He now understands his mistake,
But he’s proud of shrinking
The universe down to a man.
Who does that?
“The Artist!” he’ll inevitably cry
And laugh because it’s ludicrous.

“I took tickets too.”
And he cleaned the aisles
And he built you a throne
With cheesecloth and cardboard,
“And my soul!” Yes, yes, of course.

And there now you are
In the throne he constructed
And he’s not ready to be seen or heard
“Or exist!” No, no, of course.

Episode Link | Archive Item | YouTube

Like I Was A People

What am I doing walking around like this
Like I could cope
What made me think that
Like I wasn’t walking around big chunk missing
Nothing to fill it with but despair
And what happens when I run out
What am I doing walking around like this
Like I was a people.

Kitchen Sync

Introduction

So, I mentioned it in passing, but haven't written about the poetry reading.

On March 25, I performed at the Kitchen Sync open mic in Denton, TX. The poets in attendance were very welcoming, kind, and talented. I had a blast, and I was on fire.

I'm planning on going back this month, but I'm in Oklahoma City…yeah, weird. Even weirder, I got cast in a couple small bit roles in a community theatre production of The Laramie Project. I'm very excited, I've always wanted to do theatre and here I go, weee! It's a six-to-eight week obligation and so I may not be able to make it down, but I'll try, there's something special happening in Denton.

Here's an approximation of the introduction I performed (I improvised a lot). I'm not sure if it's through, but I suspect it is. I feel good about it.

Main Content

Hello, I’m Franklyn Monk

The one that disappeared a little after every defeat and

slunk down into that hole
where I turned in and around myself
and popped out the other side

The undoing unbeing before you

as convincing as I am

illusionary. I don’t exist!

Except maybe as a ball of calm in a sea of chaos
or a knot of chaos in a sea of calm.

I can’t tell.

The only thing I know with certitude
is I have a voice,
and I like to use it.

Communion

Main Content

“Stop! You must curtail your bizarre behavior,”
says the man with the stick,
“You really must,” he says
adjusting his hat.

But, he’s not talking to me,
he’s talking to the creature we become—
in the stretch back to the first realm.

“Adjust behavior and commiserate elsewhere,”
says the fat man
“You really must,” he says
poking the creature’s chest.

The creature, call us Communion,
howls indignant and turns back to the wall—
string dangling from slippery hands.

“Non-compliance is unacceptable,”
shouts the rigid man,
“Unacceptable and you must stop,” he shouts
and we pay em no mind we pay em no mind.

We are disconnected from that world,
there is only blood here and glue and string—
this creation nothing else.

Endnotes

This poem was released as a podcast on June 7, 2014.

Download

And now a YouTube Video

How to Blend

I make a show
of looking for a stick
and removing the mud from my feet
because that’s what normal people do

and don’t forget to stretch
people do that too
they stretch at the park
and remove mud from their feet

and you have to breathe all the time
that’s what else real human people do is breathe