(HTML technology is still too primitive to give more than a hint of the typographic exuberance of Mr. Brennan's poem, on full display in the premier issue of FlashPøint magazine. (It cannot, for instance, recognize the little musical notes that dance about italicized song lines.) So something is indeed lost between page and screen. Not lost, however, are the exuberant, incisive wit and lyric frolic of the poetry itself.--JR Foley)



from A WORK IN PROGRESS

by Joe Brennan



                           & the Prigmatics hid
                           in the Ivy
                           & SingSangSung
                                                                                   "....und argumentieren über die Leere......"
`....I'm not nigger rich!......'
                                       aired Wendell Ford
                                                                          `.....come into MY store
                                                                                  .....stink SO bad
                                                                                     ....the others
                                                                                    run for the door......'

liberal shopkeeper
leVels
                     ".....phøney phonemes....."
                                                                          gotta get a H.E.A.D.
                                                                                                    ".....ami.d the conti.nui.ti.es....."
a huge black mouth
with a million red tongues
ululates &.....
                                                                     White Ri.øts
                                                                      in Medi.atm; Res
                                                                                                   &
                                                                                                          we gotta divvy up & go
                                                     "....who are the police anyway?...."
Louie Louie
                          les foules chantent
                                                                                       Vers sighs in the sunset
".....how can (we) tell
      what (wea've) become
      if (we) can't say
      what pigeons (wea've) been?....."
                                                                              diß is dee crUx!
                                                                                                                     r.O.t.a. RøuTERS
und jetz kommt den Herr Hass muß fragen
                                                                               `....¿wenn ist ein Spitzel nicht ein Spitzel?.....
      "...an empty mAn
           in an Empty house
            eatIng stew
           with a bOne-white
           loUse
....."
                                                                              & a gold medallion
                                                                              to stick on the cover
                                                                                                                                 mehr licht?
`.....who yOu are
      is what you think
      people think yøu are
      in those
                            f O i s t
                            p h e w !
                            s e c ø n d s.....'
                                                                                             Nothi.ng besi.de remai.ns....
eh? listen up!
                                       among the Jung at He-Art
                                                                                                        "....pulling elephants
                                                                                                              out of (his) eyes
                                                                                                              (he) sings to the Medusa
                                                                                                              in the synapse...."
the kalei.doscopi.c full crumbs
of schizØ/scherzø
                                 the pedestaled aberrant
                                                                                                   the MAJØR/minør motets
"....grrrrr....yOu animal!...."
                                                  (iiiiiii) think (i) know
                                                       (i) think i know
                                                       i think (I) know
                                                       (I) think I know
                                                       I think (iiiiiii).......etc......

                                                                                                        "....Ego? that snakehead?...."
at this stage
      die Dinge
as the boyz
in the backroom sez
      sind flexible......
                                               I'll let yøu be in my Object Relation
                                              if I can be in yøurs

                                                                                                   which is not a condition
                                                                                                   to imitate but to clear up....
"....(he) felt stirring
      in (his) peni.s
      the assiduous curlycues
      of (her) inverted fi.g.....
                                       ....son trou dans le réel....."
                                                                                                              Øriginal? tas de culs!....
                                                                                                              how could it not be
                                                                                                              øther/wise?...."
"....from effect to affect....."
                                                         clause célèbre!
                                                                                                        "....from link to link.....
the nuclei defy the lie...."
                                                    the iiiiiiiii's
                                                    in the mirrør
                                                    behind yøu
                                                                                             ".....couched in uncertain speech....
....attached to nugacities.....
                                                          & hung on the cusp
                                                          of that angst osculating
                                                           between wanting to know
                                                          & being able to stand it.....
                                                                                             .....qui est une référence physique....."
it takes braille
to spritz in the face
of the Sphinxster
                                               ".....ecoutez! avant la structure
                                                                                                   vient l'être......"



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