ben smith | my first book

My first book,
Went for sale at 30 bucks
A pop
At a joint that sells porn
In a semi hippy part
Of an overly yuppie town

They took 4 copies
And
Gave me a business card with
A few numbers that would
Get my cash back
From the eventual sales.

The business card had
Two girls rubbing each others
pussy on the front.

He wrote my reference number
In blue pen
next to them

Only one copy sold.

To a guy I know
Who rang me when
I was handing them in for sale.

30 bucks.

Next to paper backs
And self published
Anti magazines.

I remember
There used to be a television
In the corner of the store
Than ran black and white porn flicks

The police raided it
a few days before
I gave them my 30 dollar book to sell.

They took hand cuffs.
A book about Satan
Some stick mags

I wish they were a few days later

Maybe they would have taken
The remaining 3 books I had to sell

And I could
make the money
I owed the vanity press in the states

Who make fun of hacks like me
Who think people give a fuck
About what we have to say.

Benjamin Smith send me a couple of days ago his book Air à boire all the way down from Australia. The book cover shows a sort of an giant cat. I love cats, therefore I started reading Air à boire and for my big surprise the book starts with the Jacques Brel song “ne me quitte pas” translated into english. Wow, a cat, then Brel. What comes after? cavity | the cars at the front of dave’s | dont be mad at me for saying this | the holiday tan | bed head (oh, how cute) | your twenty one | get over it cassanova | her popcorn hair | untitled (1) | clean, like a fox, |reprieve, amoment from the glare | untitled (2) | growing into a beautiful flower | lifes a beach | untitled (3) | untitled (4) | party time | sleeping like a vagina | black and white | father and sons | twelve weeks of winter | untitled (5) | god might remember | without | pealing duck | cork sandels | I dont want to dissapoint you | the woman with the wagging finger | the same | no more footsteps | 29 poems in total from a guy I would like to share a couple of six-packs with. Aire à boire is available via lulu.com and much more on Benjamin Smith can be found on his web page horrorsleazetrasch More Ben Smith poems will be posted on Outlaw Poetry soon.