Wednesday, March 11, 2015
let me tell you about my crush
she’s cute & she’s smart & she makes me laugh
she dances in my head
when i’m not being distracted
she’s vulnerable & strong
she’s a work of art in motion
she’s a song from the back rafters
she’s a smile on the face of the night
she’s far away, under unknown skies
i’m too young for her
she’s too young for me
& she’ll never never know how i feel about her
she casts a silver shadow
when she slips through secret streets
she has an aura of raw sugar
she wears her heart on her sleeve
my crush is not perfection
my crush is not a dream
she’s cracked & she’s chipped & she’s scarred
& she can never be with me
she’s far away, on her own adventures
i’m too young for her
she’s too young for me
& i doubt she even remembers my name
One of the most sought after comic books in all of comics fandom is Fortune Comics #1, featuring the only appearance of “Miss Fortune, Mystic Wonder,” published by Wallace Brothers Books in June, 1940. Joseph and Sam Wallace lost all their money and their business, thanks to Sam’s gambling addiction, just after Fortune Comics #1 came out and their backstock of magazines was pulped, making that comic book incredibly rare and incredibly valuable. (Continued)
i don’t know
i don’t know
i really don’t know who i am or
where this is or what
color i oh so colorfully feel
in
the heart of my head
in
the center of my soul
in
the brokendown burrow where my frightened ghost survives
i don’t know
i don’t know
i don’t know
i don’t know where my rainbow is
or where it ends
or how my skies are colored true blue
when
i feel so shattered & scattered
& nothing really matters
but the matter of madness
& the jam & the butter
& the ravens that ravage my rascal reign
i don’t know
i don’t know
i don’t know if anyone knows what they know
but i know
that i
don’t
know
i will set this day on fire with the curiosity of a cat
the day oh this day with a fruitful fire
i will set upon this day with a headful of bees
this day will be upon this curious heart
your atlantean dream pressed passed upon the flesh
with a teacup with a sandwich oh yes
i will set upon this day with a headful of bees
this day on fire in tears in smiles
like a curious cat i will dance in a mandala
this dream this day this fire this time
all set with teacup prince of days & nights
all fired this day in dream of flesh
& when we awaken so fused in flowers of flame
up noted for days & nights oh free
& when the sugar-sanded sea all smoky in stems
flew fire from a window oh dear
flew fire from a window & now we are done
i still can’t remember
how i was dismembered
burned a hole in my telescope
& now nothing is the same
once it was an idea
an inspiration for a dream
bordered on all sides by
a system for dismantling
structures of stagnation
incoherent subtexts
broken down into atoms
bursting with impotent energy
a monster
a madness
an apple
an amsterdam
but i still can’t remember
that time i was dismembered
burned a hole in my telescope
& now nothing is the same
after everything has been discussed
mysteries solved, maps unfurled
molecules of manic force
this one idea expressed in voice
this one idea blown up to ash
a system for ideal equations
vocalized, extemporized
a simple sign of blind poetics
a monster
a madness
an apple
an amsterdam
but i still can’t remember
that time i was dismembered
burned a hole in my telescope
& now nothing is the same
Friday, February 20, 2015
While I’m going public with my dreams and plans for my next steps in life, I’ll also come out and say that I love collaboration and playing with others. I’m an extrovert, you know? It’s one of the big reasons why I love playing tabletop RPGs, the act of playing Let’s Pretend with other people. One of the things I don’t like about writing poetry and fiction is how solitary an activity it is most of the time. (This is why I write better in public spaces than when I’m home alone.) Of course, when you’re performing poetry and prose (or anything, really), you don’t have to do it solo. Considering my performance inspirations, it makes more sense to collaborate than to go it alone. But even beyond performance, I want to push my own boundaries of writing and not crawl up my own artistic ass. I want to team up with other superheroes and fight crime boredom and stagnation.
So I’m putting a call out to poets, writers of the weird and fantastic, musicians, singers, dancers, comedians, painters, comics artists, filmmakers, collagists, Nerdists, Surrealists. Want to work together? Play together? Craft together? Create together? I’m not exactly sure what I want to do, but I’m game to try things out and see what sticks. Like one of those rubbery, sticky things you’d get in a box of cereal and throw at the wall. Or spaghetti when it’s ready. (Does anyone really throw spaghetti at the wall? Or is that just an urban legend? The box of pasta tells you how long to boil it, so why would you even need to throw it against a wall? That’s just a waste of good spaghetti.) (And now I’m craving spaghetti and meatballs. Great.)
If this sounds groovy to you, drop me an email (joshuamneff at the ol’ gmail), tweet me a tweet, pass me a note in 4th period Algebra. Let’s play!
