Excerpt from Tapping Ashes in the Dark
a good raw poem
a good raw poem
is much needed
at times
of literary freeze
it's a zippo lighter
flame on high
beneath the frozen
sack of black juice
in your torso
it's a keg tap
on your spleen
don't ever fucking knock
the good raw poem
one day when
your literary
vision
is full
of cataracts
you'll scream for
the edge of
a good raw poem
to slide across
your corneas
let some goddamn
light in
mascot of poetry
i woke myself
coughing
i had a half
a glass of water
next to my bed
i spit what was
in my mouth
into it
the glob floated
half below
& half on
the surface
like a small
yellowish
jellyfish with
with one eye
of blood
at the center
the mascot
of my poetry
unwanted
ink
you keep writing
your award-winning poems
you keep writing
your grant fuelled poems
your shiny trophy poems
you keep in a glass case
beneath the wall of diplomas
& i'll keep writing
my atrophied poems
my blacklisted poems
america's most unwanted poems
poems that those in power
want to erase like unwanted ink
etched into the flesh
© 2008 Rob Plath