5 Tent City Poems

Avant-Girl 2011 (Washington Square)

The azalea,

she said,

means temperance,

passion,

sisterhood,

good-luck drum circles

and fragility.

We waited

in her tent,

smoking.

 

Minority Report

Face it, blondebeards,

waves burned

this prairie

more than twice:

Our time is moot.

The Media Materializes as a Schaffner Film

Apelike quadrupeds

with widescreen lenses

strip us in vitro.

Time to stop drawing

prosthetic crucifixes

on the sidewalk.

PTSD is So 2007 (Rubber Bullet Sonata)

                        

“The least coolest person on TV,

more interesting

than anyone here,”

sings Private Jimmy

while we sponge

his vegetable legs.

Historical Context

When asked why he felt so compelled to douse his body in flames, the elderly monk replied, “My feet hurt.”