doorbells, mornings and death

doorbells, mornings and death
or (If you are Cunt)

listen
when you start writing from the brain
chuck it out the door
feed the cats with it
call it meow meow chow
whatever
you’ve got to be heart, shit or balls
if you’re cunt
you better know how to translate
and yes, they’ll tell you to stop
and yes, they’ll have all kinds of reasons and critiques and
blowhard bullshit
you might even believe for awhile
it will throw you off
maybe you’ll take on an old fat fuckin mentor
start writing poems about doorbells, mornings
and death that does not
matter
and maybe everyone pulls a few chains now and then
and maybe everyone has a critic in their heart
and maybe not.
you could or could not say
‘and’ so much
it wouldn’t matter
style has nothing to do with depth
and
if you shovel the shit long enough
you might forget what was under there
you might forget where you were going
you might forget how you were getting there
one day you’ll remember
you wanted to go

you’ll remember
earth doesn’t taste like
dust

heat doesn’t feel like
pain
and passion–
doesn’t need to be developed.

from Stealing the Midnight from a Handful of Days (Punk Hostage Press)

Available at Magical Jeep Distributing

Michele McDannold is the author of SpaceTime Continuum for Dummies (Gutter Snob Books), Point of Departure (COCKLEBUR PRESS) and Stealing the Midnight from a Handful of Days (PUNK HOSTAGE PRESS). She was the Editor-in-Chief at Red Fez Publications for five years and is currently the editor/publisher at Citizens for Decent Literature. She has an extensive collection of flannel and rubber chicken heads. For more, please visit michelemcdannold.com.

Rubber White and Puckered

Rubber White and Puckered

I dreamt of living in a rubber room
(my head wrapped around a train)
the whistle
it doesn’t sound like a whistle
not like the old western movies

when I say old
(I mean dead, they seem dead)
that black and white trapped in a box
must be bones
it is similar to the pale mornings when I visit the
mausoleum
in the back, where the tiles pull out

no one comes here anymore
not to see the picture behind glass that was Sampson
that was Julia
they don’t notice a dead bird brought in from the rain
No

the tiles are white
all else is ash grey,
black
the train sounds
a horn
a horn that won’t let up
on and on, it goes

as it reaches the end of my mind
the sound fades
end of the track
the last stand of town
the sound of the rails
the rumbling
a vibration
rattling windows

there are no windows here
only rubber
rubber white and puckered
[in the room, we are back in the room]
with buttons
small, round
it looks like a couch
all the way round the room
(you can find death in rooms too)
you can see the door is the outlined shape of a door
sticks out from the rest

it feels like I could run
run into it
and the sound
the sound might go away

from Stealing the Midnight from a Handful of Days (Punk Hostage Press)

Available at Magical Jeep Distributing

Michele McDannold is the author of SpaceTime Continuum for Dummies (Gutter Snob Books), Point of Departure (COCKLEBUR PRESS) and Stealing the Midnight from a Handful of Days (PUNK HOSTAGE PRESS). She was the Editor-in-Chief at Red Fez Publications for five years and is currently the editor/publisher at Citizens for Decent Literature. She has an extensive collection of flannel and rubber chicken heads. For more, please visit michelemcdannold.com.

Nothing to Lose (or Freedom)

Nothing to Lose (or Freedom)

i need to be
that guy …
the next one in line
as the door closes,
the last one picked,
the “we just sold out”
of every kind of whatever
you’re looking for,
the flat tire,
the flat busted…
left for dead,
fucked over six ways
to Sunday,
guy.

that guy whose lover
stole a pigeon heart
and took a big dump
on his head.
fuckery, so insane
so very needless…

all reason, if there ever
was any–
is totally obliterated.

i
want to be that guy

“that kind of pissed that leads not to revenge
but to a reckoning”

people will shed a lone tear
sniffle
and shake their head a lot
i will keep on gathering great poems
sharing the news about great poets
new ones
old ones
killer ones
fucky ones
we’ll call it
the “didn’t make it to twitter
because it had too much
character” book

i want to drive down the great river road
i want a reading
right now!
in bars
bookstores
and bowling alleys
i want to read/scream
at bikers and rednecks
housewives and whores
i hope they throw stuff
and spit on me
chase me out to the car
yelling
“we don’t like your kind
‘round here”
but they will secretly
worship me
and my freedom
and my hoard of poets
from the suburbs
the city
the farm
they’re multiplying like gremlins

one dash of sit and spin
and they’re out ruining christmas

i want them all
(not to make them famous)
to make them infamous
to spread their disease
of think
of cut out the bullshit
and get to the point
i want America
in her glazed over Red Bull eyes
to really
really
wake the fuck up
this is no time to let it ride
the great depression
is your brain on ice
your investment in image
the “i’m okay- you’re okay” is a dead hippie lie
the 1% is selling everything
is selling you, me..
McDonald’s and Twilight books

medication via
TV ads
the party is over
the beatniks are dead or dying
the outlaws are a joke
the wild west is tamed, my friends
rail against that which seeks to defeat you
every day
every hour
RIGHT NOW
get in your car
go
don’t kill the first thing that gets in your way
kill em all
kill em all
kill em all,
motherfuckers.
they call us the X generation
with nothing to lose
but our Nirvana CDs
and Fight Club on DVD
didn’t you get the memo?
the they have

co-opted your identity for mass marketing
you can now buy
the special edition director’s cut t-shirt snuggie toothpick rim job with decal

get the fuck
OUT
out of your house
and stick a fist up their ass for doing this
don’t buy the hype
use it against them
like those goddamn
nothing to lose
asshole poets
that you love

from Stealing the Midnight from a Handful of Days (Punk Hostage Press)

Available at Magical Jeep Distributing

Michele McDannold is the author of SpaceTime Continuum for Dummies (Gutter Snob Books), Point of Departure (COCKLEBUR PRESS) and Stealing the Midnight from a Handful of Days (PUNK HOSTAGE PRESS). She was the Editor-in-Chief at Red Fez Publications for five years and is currently the editor/publisher at Citizens for Decent Literature. She has an extensive collection of flannel and rubber chicken heads. For more, please visit michelemcdannold.com.

today

today

i only mean what i say
when i keep it to myself
it might be back alley logic
but it keeps my conscience clear

today it’s raining
my heart pounds louder
than the drops hitting the roof tins
the sound of love, dropped
just shy of realization

i think of how easy it is
to get by
the cold night is near
you slip a bottle in my hand
and look at me like you’re seeing yesterday

there is no tomorrow
and this, i keep
to myself

from Stealing the Midnight from a Handful of Days (Punk Hostage Press)

Available at Magical Jeep Distributing

Michele McDannold is the author of SpaceTime Continuum for Dummies (Gutter Snob Books), Point of Departure (COCKLEBUR PRESS) and Stealing the Midnight from a Handful of Days (PUNK HOSTAGE PRESS). She was the Editor-in-Chief at Red Fez Publications for five years and is currently the editor/publisher at Citizens for Decent Literature. She has an extensive collection of flannel and rubber chicken heads. For more, please visit michelemcdannold.com.

accidentally told you I love you

accidentally told you I love you

today i’m paddling back
to my lonely island
of, it’s not that heavy
but the boat is sinking, fucker
oh, the boat is sinking

from Stealing the Midnight from a Handful of Days (Punk Hostage Press)

Available at Magical Jeep Distributing

Michele McDannold is the author of SpaceTime Continuum for Dummies (Gutter Snob Books), Point of Departure (COCKLEBUR PRESS) and Stealing the Midnight from a Handful of Days (PUNK HOSTAGE PRESS). She was the Editor-in-Chief at Red Fez Publications for five years and is currently the editor/publisher at Citizens for Decent Literature. She has an extensive collection of flannel and rubber chicken heads. For more, please visit michelemcdannold.com.

And now she goes by some other name

And now she goes by some other name

trina was
the skinniest girl
i had ever seen
hip bones
sticking out
pale,
yellowish skin
and terrible hair
but she had a kindness
and mystical way about her
that was captivating

for a while
she was wiccan
a couple times
a Buddhist
and always
with the tarot cards

she took me to my first
rocky horror picture show
we formed a coven
the boys brought flowers
mowed the lawn
wrote poems,
sketches,
long into the night
acid trips in the park
and no need
for explanations

the worst and most harmful
was her multiple personality disorder
i never really did buy it

it didn’t really matter though
after the third abortion
when she told me,
“i went into the bathroom
when he was done.
took that condom out of the trash
and shoved it up there.”

one could fairly say
her mind broke then
in some abortion clinic
out west
where he held her hand
watching the light fade
right out of her.

from Stealing the Midnight from a Handful of Days (Punk Hostage Press)

Available at Magical Jeep Distributing

Michele McDannold is the author of SpaceTime Continuum for Dummies (Gutter Snob Books), Point of Departure (COCKLEBUR PRESS) and Stealing the Midnight from a Handful of Days (PUNK HOSTAGE PRESS). She was the Editor-in-Chief at Red Fez Publications for five years and is currently the editor/publisher at Citizens for Decent Literature. She has an extensive collection of flannel and rubber chicken heads. For more, please visit michelemcdannold.com.

one of the girls

one of the girls

this one time
i stole the shoelace
of the girl you were
fucking
down there in your basement room

removed carefully from one
shoe only
ankle-high granny boots

and when it burnt
at midnight
it smelled of real leather
and lessons i will
never learn

she was gone the next week
with the others
punk girls
pretty girls
nasty girls
reduced to receipts
and the occasional photo
maybe a ticket stub
a one-line tribute in a
poem, penned late night
at Denny’s
which will be remembered long after
the curve of her ass or
the softness of her…

it is the sum of parts
you forget

crouched down on the living room
floor
surrounded by a circle of salt
the fire in my hand
and fevered head
i have nothing left to give
you haven’t already taken
and mixed in with
the rest

from Stealing the Midnight from a Handful of Days (Punk Hostage Press)

Available at Magical Jeep Distributing

Michele McDannold is the author of SpaceTime Continuum for Dummies (Gutter Snob Books), Point of Departure (COCKLEBUR PRESS) and Stealing the Midnight from a Handful of Days (PUNK HOSTAGE PRESS). She was the Editor-in-Chief at Red Fez Publications for five years and is currently the editor/publisher at Citizens for Decent Literature. She has an extensive collection of flannel and rubber chicken heads. For more, please visit michelemcdannold.com.

Monkey Bars

Monkey Bars

Isn’t it just a bit usual these days
to be talking shit fuck?
I was reading this novel by this great
guy ‘so and so’, oh, it was only a few
years back, and it actually said
shit fuck. shit fuck.
then later on when I was reading some
other stuff–
poetry and the like, well … and I had really
already noticed lots of cunts for some reason.
I’ve never really cared for that word, and don’t use it
myself
but back to shit fuck.
it’s losing power these days
you know, it used to turn heads
but even my mother doesn’t flinch anymore, when I let it slip
…fucking shit.
it started for me on the playground, a game.
with Tracey, the toughest girl in town I wanted to be.
and Jeff, the dirtiest boy I wanted,
even in Grade 3.
man, don’t tell me you’re not born with it.
so I learned all my shit fuck bastard piss
on the monkey bars
but I never really perfected it until the year I worked in that
slaughterhouse, I was nineteen and desperate.
everyone there was desperate,
shit fuck became– I ain’t takin’ no fuckin’ shit
piss off, bitch
suck my dick
and it became an art form…and second nature.
I know at times you gotta keep it in check
and I do try to tone it down
but damnit, it’s sewn deep.
and when people keep talking shit fuck shit fuck,
I hate to hear others say it sounds cheap,
`cause baby, it comes at a price.

from Stealing the Midnight from a Handful of Days (Punk Hostage Press)

Available at Magical Jeep Distributing

Michele McDannold is the author of SpaceTime Continuum for Dummies (Gutter Snob Books), Point of Departure (COCKLEBUR PRESS) and Stealing the Midnight from a Handful of Days (PUNK HOSTAGE PRESS). She was the Editor-in-Chief at Red Fez Publications for five years and is currently the editor/publisher at Citizens for Decent Literature. She has an extensive collection of flannel and rubber chicken heads. For more, please visit michelemcdannold.com.

PHP looooove. it’s just how we roll…

February 8, 2015
photo op for bad-assery in the badlands? sure why not

 

 

 

 

Magical Jeep/Book Porn

Burr Ridge, Illinois 01/28/15