Poems and Texts

SO YOU’RE JUST GONNA STAND THERE AND PICK THE ICING OFF THE CAKE? by Drew Gardner

Drew Gardner & Evelyn Reilly
Wednesday, November 28, 2018, 8:00 pm
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SO YOU’RE JUST GONNA STAND THERE AND PICK THE ICING OFF THE CAKE?

Teenage birth rate rises to fuel
the National Endowment for the War,
shifting amid the creation of your parents.
I’m free to give my analysis of the situation,
deals with general computer problems
making it impossible for you to be surprised to learn
that Elvis is popular in Afghanistan.

I feel huffy staring at empty space.
The cryptography is solid, but the generation
of keys isn’t working.
Propellers are curvy and symmetrical.

Polishes a new pitcher for the promise of not working.
I don’t want to lose weight by loosing fat.
I want to loose everything else and become
a quivering pile of NOTHING BUT FAT.

I remember as a kid my dad played an Ed Meese record for me.
A generation of interventionist, statist landlords
responsible for the creation of the debt-ridden
idea-centered universe when
violence is rising despite a shift
in US military tactics to panda porn
that fails to teach pandas
how to knock each other up.
Is branding dead?

Specializing in energized people
who have forgotten the history lessons
Don Henley has taught us.
It all depends on what you mean by “it’s not working.”

Drew Gardner

Drew Gardner’s poetry books include Sugar Pill (Krupskaya), Petroleum Hat (Roof Books), Chomp Away (Combo Books) and, most recently, Defender (Edge Books). His anthology of unruly 20th century poetry is forthcoming from University of New Mexico Press. His Poetics Orchestra project combines poetry and conducted music ensembles. His work has appeared in Poetry, The Nation, and Postmodern American Poetry: A Norton Anthology. Gardner lives in New York City.

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