outlaw poetry and free jazz network

Friday, October 23rd, 2009...10:27 pm

casey quinn | greatness is a smoke alarm…and 2 other poems

greatness is a smoke alarm

going off in your head

telling you
your house is burning
and there is no more
time to waste

no more tv
no more movies
no more dreams

only action
keeps the flames
from spreading
to the curtains
to the couch
to the floor
to the walls
to you
and then you’re dead

just keep moving forward
or die

it’s as simple as that.

i imagine

my foot coming down
on a cockroach
is the equivalent
to a nuclear
bomb being dropped
and my act
of force with
the corresponding death
gives me
this image in my mind
of the day where
some jackass
finds it justified
for religion
for politics
for money
to drop a bomb
which makes
another jackass
respond with a bomb
and we are
reduced
to nothing but
ashes
and as the days
pass mother nature
laughs
reclaims
her throne
and all that
will remain
are cockroaches
who will thrive
in our ruins
and have no sense
of remorse
for our departure.

stage fright

to the man wearing the brown shoes
that just left the bathroom

please do not take this
the wrong way
but i beg of you
to not speak to me again
while standing
in front of the john

please do not talk to me
even to ask
how the day is going
or to check if i
watched the game last night

no head nod,
no smile

please,
no eye contact while
i try to take a leak

no, i do not
think you are a homosexual

and no,
i am not a homosexual,
nor homophobic
or paranoid

but as you must have noticed
i look down and
mind my own business

i simply ask you
to do the same
while in the comforts
of a public restroom