Richard Lopez & Lars Palm


Five Poems


winding down. ozzy
osbourne warned of
starting a riot. in a

concert. sponsored
by budweiser. even
still. sit still. sit

down. sit quietly
doing nothing. a
film where the father

worries over his
son. who went
mad. with poetry

& a line by
vallejo. you can
start a revolution

by sitting down.
& still. you can
begin here


+++


"let the revolution begin"
echoing across this rather
large square. it seems only

that man on his horse keeps
his royal mouth shut. nowhere is
the thought of flogging

anyone called molly.
to her great relief
seafood is abundant.

& how that folded plastic chair
ended up so high in that tree
remains open to speculation

far more productive than in
any currency. currently they
celebrate the birth of a new pacific island


+++


welcome to the future. past it
is. ongoing to the present. once

i went for a walk & found myself
walking. in the present. i stopped

walking. in the past. i look forward to smart
cars & jet packs. protein pills & robot

cures for insomnia. the revolution will be
instagrammed. when i walk the streets

of NYC i am not in NYC. i use google maps. i look
for the automat to have lunch. the last automat closed

in the final years of the 20^th century. i want a
cup of coffee & a damn good slice of cherry pie


+++


it arrives complete with a new weird
& wonderful essay by a local guerrero

guests arrive at the scene. after living there for
3 years they discover their neighbours

have a teenage son. sun blinds this
neighbourhood. the hood burns some fingers.

going at any number of revolutions per
minute these eyes have seen things to

make you import your coffee from chiapas.
& that raindrop considering where to land

& where that can be found
is anybody's guess.

recognizing no borders. no nations
except imagination. imagine this


+++


an 8-track tape player

movie shown in 16 mm

bruce lee’s nunchuks & 1-inch punch

blown back hair

an elegant exit from the elevator

dance crazy in a white tux

the film breaks & the mono soundtrack sucks

eyes glazed

smoke ring saturated air

sitting on the edge of

broken chairs

purposeful antimatter

magic lanterns

pee rings on carpet

throw arms over wide like the moon & ol’ li po




Richard Lopez was born in the summer of love. He has published poems, reviews and interviews on paper and in pixels. His last chapbook was hallucinating california co-authored with jonathan hayes. His next chapbook will be something else.


Lars Palm has been here before. a new book this thing just happened is forthcoming from gradient books. & his latest chapbook is part of the "this is visual poetry" series.
 
 
previous page     contents     next page