(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 �ber 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
                     ".....ph�ney 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.�ts
                                                                      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?....."
                                                                              di� is dee crUx!
                                                                                                                     r.O.t.a. R�uTERS
und jetz kommt den Herr Hass mu� 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 y�u are
      in those
                            f O i s t
                            p h e w !
                            s e c � 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 schiz�/scherz�
                                 the pedestaled aberrant
                                                                                                   the MAJ�R/min�r 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 y�u be in my Object Relation
                                              if I can be in y�urs

                                                                                                   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 r�el....."
                                                                                                              �riginal? tas de culs!....
                                                                                                              how could it not be
                                                                                                              �ther/wise?...."
"....from effect to affect....."
                                                         clause c�l�bre!
                                                                                                        "....from link to link.....
the nuclei defy the lie...."
                                                    the iiiiiiiii's
                                                    in the mirr�r
                                                    behind y�u
                                                                                             ".....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 r�f�rence physique....."
it takes braille
to spritz in the face
of the Sphinxster
                                               ".....ecoutez! avant la structure
                                                                                                   vient l'�tre......"



Next Page