Meditation upon “Annunciation” by Mati Klarwein, 1961

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Saharan angels chant their song of abundance before a Cainite altar where the enigmatic artist laughs a jibaro-hippie laugh / Red conga-anima rides the rhythm / signalling to the drowsing Queen of the South lost in a vision at the wall of Jerusalem / she must lift her gaze to heaven / turn from her vanity and behold the celestial sign / Aleph-Alpha the cipher of Messiah / the egg breaks open: flowering zygote of conception / blood of the pomegranate, granada / blood of the goat flayed on the altar of mammon / terraces of chilies exuding fire in the crystalline torpor of a Mexican fishing village / hear the clear salt water at the foot of the stairs / hear the music’s underwater depths / hear the syncopated overcoding of this annunciation / the lilies rise, shoshannim / Shushan the citadel / nomadic deserts of the outer horizon threaten the opulent decadence of the jeweled elephant-headed idol of the world / Orpheus looks back emerging from the portal stairs into the burning light of the living / BEHOLD: Eurydice one last time in perfection and it all vanishes

 

 

PROMPT # 22: write a poem that engages with another art form […]
a wonderful painting, film, or piece of music you’ve experienced –
so long as it uses the poem to express something about another form of art.

www.matiklarweinart.com

Plebeia Ovulation-Jones takes on America @ Walmart

Hi-fructose drama-nation (AKA Plebeia Ovulation-Jones), clad in a rumpled football shirt and golden sweatpants, rolled her bovine eyes, burped, then plunged into battle in the Walmart parking lot. Overweightia U.S, looking on, gestured rudely while blabbing on her phone. America herself, standing by, talked loudly, swiveling her fat neck around with a menacing gesticulation involving her two-and-a-half-inch poisonous green fake fingernails studded with tiny rhinestones in the shape of well-known designer logos. Witnesses claimed that the altercation started when America could not find her own thong, which was lost between mountains of cellulite-rippled sweaty rolls of flesh. Splendora Obeeze, her BFF, trying to get America away from the fight scene, mooed like a feral heifer, then barked at her ex, who proceeded to taunt her while filming with his I-phone:

Woo ooh-ooh baby Ima get wit chu den do like u cause we rollin, we rollin . . .

Plebeia suddenly snarled at her 3 year-old daughter strapped into a car seat to leave her shit alone and then re-entered the store where she proceeded to sing to herself in the brassiere section until she bumped into her 4th toddler’s baby-daddy who was mumbling into his thick beard RE tha lightweight herb he smoked wif his boy as he checked his text messages for the freestyle lyrics by “L’il Murgatroid”. The entire affair ended badly when Plebeia spilled corn-dog flavored popsicle powder all over America’s thong-retrieval device. WW IV warning apps were triggered. They beeped, were ignored, failed and then were deleted. No one shouted World Staaar—u see dat? Oh shiiiittt !!
Plebeia O-J was oblivious, in any case, and strode boldly into the Walmart pharmacy section as the predatory drones prophesied in Revelation were released from the bottomless pit by Abaddon, Lord of Destruction. Fabulously overweight as well, I was, nonetheless, underwhelmed by the thong itself, when it was finally retrieved from the depths of America’s rumpled sweatpants, on the buttocks of which was emblazoned the final terrible message: PINK UNIVERSITY: BITE ME.

 

 

PROMPT 20: write a poem that “talks.”
While it isn’t a monologue, it’s largely based in spoken language,
interspersed with the speaker/narrator’s own responses and thoughts.
Try to write a poem grounded in language as it is spoken –
not necessarily the grand, dramatic speech of a monologue or play,
but the messy, fractured, slangy way people speak in real life.
You might incorporate overheard speech
or a turn of phrase you heard once that stood out to you –

Deal With This

Hello Kitty key-chain
caked in blood, hung on
one rusted nail
the silent shack
silvered wood-grain, locust-buzz . . .
Scattered petals blown by
the dented fan spinning
in the Mississippi sun
withering winter heat
hanging willows over the
bank. Cypresses silhouetted
on the darkening horizon
glacier’s silent witness
while sherpas come and go
seeking her remains
beseeching Buddha
. . . details, details

the little girl she had always been
motionless in the sand of the dry riverbed
the Bedouin poke her cold body
with their staffs
camels quizzically chew cud.
Housewives on Long Island
do their shopping . . .

What did she say
When they stole her lunchbox?
Why were Lunchables™ not enough?

Grief is a sandwich
tossed in a snowdrift,
in the summer of 1941:
Tibetan village of Yarlung Tsangpo;
Inevitability of sun.

 

PROMPT 18: write an elegy of your own, one in which the abstraction of sadness is communicated not through abstract words, but physical detail. This may not be a “fun” prompt, but loss is one of the most universal and human experiences, and some of the world’s most moving art is an effort to understand and deal with it.


			

The View from Hair

 

I fell hard for the head of that Isaac
(note the gravity of my event).
Over Tombstone I soared, on the winds of the Lord
Until Holliday’s bullets were spent.

Floating iceberg, I challenged Titanic
Single raindrop, got lost in the storm;
Genghis Khan’s mongol horse had ideas, of course
Stalin’s mommy kept baby Joe warm . . .

Perspectives from lesser-known players
May improve the morale of the team;
But a view from the edge of the forty-fifth ledge
Will compel true progressives to scream!

Have you noticed the wave on that wizard,
Washingtonian mage of the West?
You may dislike his ways, but it’s only a phase;
Now admit it; his hair is the BEST.

He’s the Cheeto in charge of your nation
Chief constructor of all that is Great.
Though you’re peeved at your loss, Mr. Drumpf is the boss
And there’s no more excuse for your hate.

I’m the roof on Melania’s husband
Call me carrot-top, call me toupée . . .
You can whine all you want, but I’m here to be blunt:
I’m the night after Democrat day.

I’m the hair on your wonderful leader
Driving liberals mad—and beyond.
The Deplorable’s turn: feel the heat, feel the burn;
Oh hilarious orange!  (No . . . blonde.)

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PROMPT #17: write a poem that  presents a scene from an unusual point of view.
Perhaps you could write a poem that presents Sir Isaac Newton’s discovery
from the perspective of the apple.
Or the shootout at the OK Corral
from the viewpoint of a passing vulture.
Or maybe it could be something as everyday as a rainstorm,
as experienced by a raindrop.