Five Poems
By Steven Dube.
The City Of Lesbians And Mothers
Winter is gone
Pedro has been OK’d to throw
The runners start to run
In the city of mothers
In the city of lesbians
The French Girl sells custard
The boy holds his liver
A shy girl is unseasonably hot
In the city of mothers
In the city of lesbians
Humbert Humbert reads Lolita in the park
Everyone is open to everything
Young girls turn around in their iPods
Mario in the shadows lands a power up
The celebrities come and go as they like
In the city of breast feeding and dykes
Shakespeare’s in the alley wasting time
That’s as close as he comes to immortality
Wasting his and wasting mine
There’s a long line at the ATM
There’s a shortage on cookies and plums
In the city of mothers
In the city of lesbians
It’s impossible not to stare
The light is pale
There’s half a pig for sale
In the city of lesbians and mothers
Brown Bunny
Riding round the track
Riding round the track
Riding round the track
Riding round the track
Riding round the track
Getting gas
Stopping at the store
Bored clerk
Do you want to go to California
Please
Please
Please
Note
Aunt Anita, Uncle Albert, I’m going to California
Kiss
Drive to your house
Ride away
Driving down the highway
Driving down the highway
Driving down the highway
Driving down the highway
Driving down the highway
Stop at your mom’s
There’s your dad
I’m living in L.A. with Daisy
There’s her brown bunny
Stop at the rest stop
There’s a wounded woman
Buy a Coke
Kiss
Drive away
Stop at the rabbit store
How long do they live
Drive away
Stop at the salt lake
It’s like the raceway
Riding on the raceway
Riding on the raceway
Driving down the highway
Driving down the highway
Driving down the highway
Driving down the highway
Driving in the city
Getting bike tuned
Do you want a date
Do you want a date
Do you want a date
Return to the third one
I want to buy you lunch
I need to make money
Buy you lunch
Give you my money
Drive away
Driving to Daisy’s house
Our house
No one’s home
Our house
No one’s house
Leave note
Go to hotel
There’s Daisy
Daisy in the bathroom
There’s Daisy
Daisy in the bathroom
Take off your shirt
Ooh
That’s head
You’re a whore
You’re an addict
You’re not dead
I let them rape you
Our baby died
You’re an addict
You are dead
Elliott Smith
I don’t mind stealing from Elliott Smith
Don’t think I won’t kiss your motherfucking lips
Muscles deflate and fly around the room
Open containers of food in your mouth
Razor blades – thrown out
Don’t think I haven’t noticed that things are looking
down for you
All the backyard games you created as a kid
Won’t be proof enough that you exist
I’m feeling sick
If I can’t be myself
Then I don’t want to talk
Don’t think we can’t be friends
Philosophers apologize
Then do it again
The latest news is scary
Don’t think I won’t lie to you in the end
Use your tongue as a razor
And be my savior of clean
Murder is allowed
To achieve things
Sad Poem
My life is this
and this is not much
just a couple of jokes
and a 40
walking
Astor Place
I am so lonely
and so afraid
and this is not a joke
This is not a joke
This is not real
This is just something
that I do
So sing a song
Sing along to one
on the radio
A sad one
One about this
Minor Ailment
The trees are having sex / I need to breathe, I’d wish they’d take a rest / Sorry, if I ignored your text / I’m under multiple weathers / I’d like nothing more than to get together / Have some fun / Eat something delicious like xanthan gum / But I don’t feel well enough for that / This is the minor ailment rap / Major ailments can kill you / But minor ones are still bad / In other words, I am really sick / I am really with / The worst of me / That comes not infrequently / And then deletes the history / I don’t know what to do with my time / I go on Amazon.com for a book to buy / The book is called Vaginas / I click to look inside / In other words I’m sad, sir / Though, maybe minor ailments are the answer / Cf. the NY Post “Achoo Away Cancer” / Which suggests sneezing can ward off death / Or at least one of its ways / One of its best
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Steven Dube is a teacher and writer who lives in Queens. He blogs about music at stevenonmusic.blogspot.com, where he often performs literary analysis of popular lyrics.
First published in 3:AM Magazine: Thursday, September 16th, 2010.
