ding hai
foto by smith
lady’s set-up and hosted City Poetry readings in two cities now - london and cleveland. both magic. both well attended.
car-less, we left for the 3 p.m. reading at 12:30, took 2 buses and 1 rapid train, and still ended up walking last 30 minutes up a hill. cleveland is not a good city for sunday public transportation if you have to transfer uptown.
once there, we sat in a slowly evolving 30-40 person circle in the basement of the oldest used book store in town, and whoever felt most like reading at any specific moment, read a poem - no order, no sign-up. more call and response.
we got back 8 hours after we’d left for the 3 hour reading. once back home, lady said here, lie on me.
i can’t. i hurt too much, too creaky. pretty soon you’ll have to take me out back and shoot me.
i don’t want to do that.
well, you could just stab me a couple times, but shooting’d be quicker. boy you’re cute. big eyes that sparkle with trust and hope and innocence, pixie hair, pretty face. you’d make a perfect contract killer.
why?
no one would suspect you, they’d say “why look at that pretty little thing that - gasp - just stabbed me.”
i lie on her, say we have to get some money so we can get ourselves fixed while fixing skills and electricity still exist. i need teeth in my head, eyes in my eyeballs, a compass in my foreskin.
why a compass?
to know what direction i’m pissing, so we always know where we are.
how would that help?
whenever we’re confused, i’ll take a piss, and my foreskin will show natural north.
~ ~ ~
hidden signets of sin
we’re writing checks on tomorrow’s children
safe harbor criminals within
:sent that response to mad poet friend KE who sent me this poem:
DING HAI
Harboring criminals on
Faceless bits of paper
Confusing the deeds of
Saints with sins of the
Father / holding liable
The ambiance of youth
When the in-between
Years reek of cause
With little affect / the
Future’s left holding
The bag / doing time
In the Year of the Pig
KE
foto by smith
SUBSCRIBE