______________________________________________________________
---- word biscuit ----
-- death and world peace edition --
10-26-96 - ray heinrich
______________________________________________________________
what can i say, it must be afternoon.
-ray
< there again >
i'm there again
and i was doing so well
you wrote in your letter
but it can change fast
and today
monday
going against type
was better than
sunday
when the bodies of the dead
were lying around
with their notes
carefully worded
hand lettered
they had pinned to themselves
not wanting us
to misread
to mistake them
for an accident
at least this once
let me make something to remember
after years of peanut butter sandwiches
read one
goodbye i didn't want to hurt you
but i've failed there too
another
don't let them know
you won't get the insurance
another
i hope you're satisfied
bitter
too much
i can't read any more
but that was yesterday
and now it's monday
- - -
< jesus from el salvador >
jesus from el salvador is cleaning buildings
and tonight
he's in my office
vacuuming and emptying the waste baskets
and he's making money
and paying taxes
and because of the federal debt
his payroll deduction this friday
is just now going to pay
for the training
of the police
that tortured
and killed
his wife
and two children
- - -
< the field >
the dead
will never come to greet us
so we go to them
go
to this field
filled with the frozen dead
as cold in summer
as in winter
and touch their granite monument
and name the few
who can be named
the granite's cold
and i am cold
and for now
i'm sad
but never long enough
if it was all of us
it would be
never long enough
- - -
< today, i'm bringing about world peace >
This morning i was thinking about world piece
while masturbating in the shower and all that
righteous energy felt so good i hurt myself
but it's only a little tear and though it did
bleed a lot it was a small price to pay for
bringing about world peace.
After that i went to the grocery store and got
one of those giant bottles of cheap wine and
after a few glasses i can feel it happening
i'm bringing about world peace.
- - -
< small words >
watching
tilts the limit
works the connection
of what you saw
and
what i'll do
soon
these small words
i measured this one
at less than a centimeter
these small words
are all we have to do
no music
or even
if you're reading this
a voice
just the ability
to appeal
to the prejudice
that lives inside your head
and these small words
dismiss them if you will
are always
the ones that kill
- - -
< celebrating glass >
at this moment
when you read this line
and this line
and this
i want to help you celebrate
your parts of glass
how much we try
for flexibility
when all
we really want to do
is break
- - -
< poems are cheap TV >
if you want the truth
don't expect to find it here
i'll tell you anything
to get you
to read these things
if you want the truth
look back
it's what you had for breakfast
- - -
< word fucking >
so this editor
from some dark planet
doesn't like my poems about
fucking
when they use the word
fucking
but my poems about
fucking
that don't use the word
fucking
are ok
- - -
< dream gun >
making my dream gun
night
after night
the metal glows as i melt it
to cast my gun
and the only crucible
is my head
and every night
my dream gun finds you
and it's bullet
makes a small hole
in your forehead
but i can put my fist
in the one where it leaves
and i know
i should have buried you by now
but the egyptians
first took out the organs
and the brain
using hooks through the nose
took out anything
that could decay
- - -
< why poems don't have 100 million dollar budgets >
if i had that
i wouldn't bother with a stupid fucking poem
and i wouldn't be talking to you losers
but
(and i hope you're smiling as you read this)
we don't have anything like that
so i'm sitting here writing another stupid poem
and you're sitting here reading it
- - -
< today i masturbated for world peace >
it felt better than usual
- - -
< bolt-action 22 >
talk about ignorant
i'm up here in this tower
with a bolt-action 22
and only 15 rounds
but it's got a good sight
so maybe
i can get a few more
than i think
but it will be a few less
than you're hoping for
- - -
< starting in the middle >
it's hard to start in the middle
i usually start at the end
it doesn't matter which
it only works
if you can work it
so it doesn't leave them out
and them is
of course
you
and i'm
neither them nor you
just the person you imagine
putting these words together
who might be dead by now
or maybe not
or maybe
it's you that's dead
if so
send me an email
and tell me what it's like
- - -
_______________________________________________________________
and all this stuff is (C) 1996 ray heinrich.
you have my permission to copy it and post it as long as it
doesn't involve charging money (kinda redundant, after all,
it IS poetry), it's not part of any pro-republican campaign
literature, and you include: "(C) 1996 ray heinrich - comments
welcome send to: ray@scribbledyne.com"
END for now