tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69808027993623417552011-04-21T13:34:14.582-07:00by brandon holmquestBrandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12812824832395102756noreply@blogger.comBlogger101100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980802799362341755.post-69288645793702705462008-10-20T21:21:00.001-07:002008-10-20T21:21:53.442-07:00<span class="body">"When I play with my cat, who knows whether she is not amusing herself with me more than I with her.</span> "<br /><br />—Michel de Montaigne<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;" class="bodybold"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6980802799362341755-6928864579370270546?l=essay-poems.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12812824832395102756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980802799362341755.post-19543076275034598722008-10-20T21:13:00.000-07:002008-10-20T21:14:07.565-07:00a city is so ridiculous who<br />gives a shit<br />algebra algebra and the baked<br />potato king<br />jagged brick algebra<br />the cost of living<br />the color hemlock<br />the coming collapse<br />the coming inability to add and subtract<br />all the empathy that caroms at<br />harsh angles<br />off the traffic<br />in the lamplight<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6980802799362341755-1954307627503459872?l=essay-poems.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12812824832395102756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980802799362341755.post-62492945258670801622008-10-20T21:12:00.000-07:002008-10-20T21:13:18.749-07:00house full of<br /> insects<br /> dying<br /><br />ladybugs hornets flies<br /><br />huddled against windows<br />drinking cold sun<br /><br />time passed<br />in the study<br />of epic failures<br />fallen republics<br /> <br /> marxism<br /> fascism<br /> france and rome<br /><br />books migrate<br />through “the home”<br />Melville in the bedroom<br />Olson on the stairs<br />spanish novels and<br />Wallis Budge<br />stacked on the sofa<br /><br />Solzhenitsyn<br /><br />general theme of<br />gullibility and aggression<br />general inability to sit still<br /><br />grace to have<br />an old man’s<br />library like a fruit tree<br />and a fruit tree<br /><br />large predators<br />pass casually<br />ambling about the day<br />stop to yawn and<br />sun themselves<br />move on in search of prey<br /><br />smothered in minor arcana<br />I rarely hear the bullets<br />rarely feel the kickback<br />of the rifle<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6980802799362341755-6249294525867080162?l=essay-poems.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12812824832395102756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980802799362341755.post-83506857304250031242008-10-20T21:10:00.000-07:002008-10-20T21:11:35.087-07:00antique future herons<br />doves and cranes are flying<br />only birds<br />belong in the penthouse<br />children please you<br />spoil the party<br />we need a troupe of elderly butlers<br />swaddled in mute comprehension<br />a more orderly procession<br />bound to obscure ceremony<br />governing abdicated princes<br />how they scramble after crown fragments<br />drag themselves to battlements<br />siege and<br />are besieged<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6980802799362341755-8350685730425003124?l=essay-poems.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12812824832395102756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980802799362341755.post-42683792970235414282008-10-20T21:09:00.000-07:002008-10-20T21:10:25.591-07:001.<br />radio off there’s really<br />no way of knowing<br />and ignorance of the law is<br />no excuse<br />if cops come<br />bust us all<br /><br />no nuclear war<br />no global warming<br /><br />we ought to crawl everywhere<br />pull over right now<br />and crawl<br />back to St. Louis<br /><br />we’ll say officer<br />it may look strange<br />but I’m crawling along<br />this major American interstate <br /><br />2.<br />we don’t go through cities<br />we go around them<br /> <br /> cities slow you down<br /> like food and bladders<br /><br />we don’t stop we don’t<br />sight see<br />the highway<br />is for going<br />if you want to see things<br />you better bring<br />an illustrated book<br /><br />insufficient respect<br />for the code of the highway<br />the speed limit<br />is contextual you<br />have to maintain<br />a like velocity<br />if traffic<br />is doing 70<br />it isn’t safe<br />to do 55<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6980802799362341755-4268379297023541428?l=essay-poems.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12812824832395102756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980802799362341755.post-82713235457298943142008-10-20T21:08:00.000-07:002008-10-20T21:09:04.255-07:00off put by <br />the obvious fiction<br /><br />familial renaissance <br />at gunpoint <br /><br />brought about at <br />literal gunpoint <br />let no grinning <br />goober call it <br />destiny<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6980802799362341755-8271323545729894314?l=essay-poems.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12812824832395102756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980802799362341755.post-91430703149403098752008-10-20T21:05:00.000-07:002008-10-20T21:07:55.520-07:00pathetically we<br />amble on<br />through december<br />drugged by the body of the lake<br /><br /> weather report<br /> it rains because<br /> everyone<br /> has an ugly heart<br /> <br /> freeze on<br /> contact with<br /> the frozen<br /><br />the new american poetry<br />is old<br />spine cracked glue dry<br />pages peeling out<br />brittle<br />stop reading poems<br /><br /> what’s the problem<br /><br /> not the going out<br /> the coming home<br /> from dim districts<br /> no more<br /> ten o’clock momentum<br /> sometime after four<br /> purgatorial waiting<br /> the train<br /> suspended between stations<br /> all appeals for patience<br /> all explanations<br /> lost in static<br /> feeling like for my sins I live<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6980802799362341755-9143070314940309875?l=essay-poems.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12812824832395102756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980802799362341755.post-71615406847685751222008-10-20T21:00:00.000-07:002008-10-20T21:04:51.162-07:00<span style="font-style: italic;">Stravinsky</span><br /><br />I’m a caveman<br />I’m a<br />goddamn<br />caveman<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Beethoven</span><br /><br />let’s fill this up with<br />something to get the<br />demonstration jumping<br />god fuck I’m too <br />self-conscious to write a poem <br />at this rate it’ll all devolve <br />to self-expression<br />and people will say “con<br />fessionalism” and twist their noses<br />to show revulsion <br />for the stock allergy <br />year of our lord 2008 <br />what are you and <br />what are you really thinking<br />about stocks in economy and pro<br />fessional war<br />I am not sure I’m anybody and<br />I am thinking about that<br />pretty much all the time<br />and getting ready to go<br />deaf so I can write my greatest music<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Mozart</span><br /><br />if the emperor doesn’t want<br /> any comedy in his opera<br />then fuck him<br />cause I’ve got<br />birdman<br />bird cage on his back<br />a bird catcher<br /> meets birdgirl<br /> of like aspect and<br /> occupation<br />and they spend two acts<br />wondering if they’re right for each other<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Bach</span><br /><br />abacus I had<br />so many children<br />listen <br />this calculation<br /> square root of<br /> my body<br />listen to<br />my body<br />the bass strings<br />my intestines keep it<br /> quiet<br /> that Italian<br />never speak of him<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Vivaldi</span><br /><br />artificial water<br />intimidated midget<br />stone faces<br />allegorically<br />representing<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6980802799362341755-7161540684768575122?l=essay-poems.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12812824832395102756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980802799362341755.post-39561971968648027762008-10-20T20:55:00.000-07:002008-10-20T20:59:20.332-07:00I remember millennial<br />paranoia<br />if no one else does<br /><br />how at twelve ten a m<br />after<br />we’d sung 1999<br />and everyone<br />had kissed everyone<br />once the skinny<br />dipping began<br />I walked<br />the gravel road<br />cars parked<br />in the dark<br />on every side<br />to my friend’s toyota<br />and turned the radio on<br />to hear<br />the world burn<br /><br />nothing<br /><br />and I was so<br />disappointed<br />to know that<br />everything<br />would go on<br />being so<br />contemporary<br />and awful<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6980802799362341755-3956197196864802776?l=essay-poems.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12812824832395102756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6980802799362341755.post-92016735086328041322008-10-20T20:51:00.000-07:002008-10-20T20:53:49.421-07:00what clogs the sink is cat vomit<br /><br />spoiled cereal milk sipped<br />in preference to water<br /><br />someone will have to clean<br />this consequence<br />of kitty’s taste<br />for luxury<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6980802799362341755-9201673508632804132?l=essay-poems.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12812824832395102756noreply@blogger.com0