Heath Brougher
The Pennsylvania Butter-knife Massacre
You stole
Thanksgiving
by
taking it ransom
with a
butter knife
by force
you the consummate
outsider you
lurking in the autumnal
darkness
of dinnertime hours
should have
picked a sharper knife
one that
gave you a better chance
at
thievery’s success
at
least you didn’t
bluntly
bludgeon anyone
[creating Thanksgrieving]
at
the table
to
make it appear
as if
the cranberry sauce
had
exploded at ground zero
atomic splatter
at the middle of the table
the epicenter
while panicked
friends
and family would’ve been
shaken and
surprised never expecting
you
to have
such
violent tendencies
and
you’d say
“but
I thought this
was
supposed to
be
a celebration
of
American culture.”
A Slice of Stalin Pie
You are a slave the great silent pogram
coursing through the veins of the world;
in Stomachville [every town is Stomachville] you make me sick;
keep that asbestos outta the ground, would ya? outta the dermis of the Vale—
Spanish Spinach dips of quohawk status at Chuck’s, a pizza joint owned by a giant mouse donning a hat and vest [or rat?—               what’s the difference?]               [are rats bigger or are rats just outdoor mice?—               who the fuck am I talking to?— ]
through thought
Pynchon is pretty geniusical—                              his books
not commonly wrought,
readers left reeling
really reeling readers turnt befuddled
[you will get your sloppy puckerkiss]
spread Martians by wind blownover
hyena hygene
the girl in a summer dress with elk horns growing out of her head
at least not a Medusinal woman with electric ells growing out of her head wavering in electric jolts
zaps
               [a great Sapienening of the Vale is happening]
sapling sipping the water from the dirt, agrowing.
(note: talk more about sudden death of hummingbirds—counter them with the sudden inexplicable death of bees—liken them to bees ((more sudden hummingbirds actually)) (( ((giant flippingwinged insects))) (((dinos))) ((precepts of raindeath)) ((Tinnitus kept me in the frozen this jail of this Januarium hovering over us with pink sky pinkeye pigeye;))
if you count there will be a human in the belly of the tree       branching out [naturally?]
I blunk a blunk and missed everything else you published with your mouth—
for once a foot tall
                                                            and never the limelight
               is not even of taste—
                                             you’re rickets have multiplied
I dialed out and Fozzy Bears answered
               limn lipwooden language      at cost
     the most                                                                            money I’ve evern carvern seen
                                                            see-ee-ee-n visions of the world unite!
and witness the essence of the Manmade version of the Vale!—
                                                            [A SPILLED CAN OF PAINT]
Heath Brougher attended Temple University. He has been previously published in BlazeVOX, MiPOesias, Diverse Voices Quarterly, Of/With, Van Gogh's Ear, Inscape Literary Journal, and elsewhere.
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The Pennsylvania Butter-knife Massacre
You stole
Thanksgiving
by
taking it ransom
with a
butter knife
by force
you the consummate
outsider you
lurking in the autumnal
darkness
of dinnertime hours
should have
picked a sharper knife
one that
gave you a better chance
at
thievery’s success
at
least you didn’t
bluntly
bludgeon anyone
[creating Thanksgrieving]
at
the table
to
make it appear
as if
the cranberry sauce
had
exploded at ground zero
atomic splatter
at the middle of the table
the epicenter
while panicked
friends
and family would’ve been
shaken and
surprised never expecting
you
to have
such
violent tendencies
and
you’d say
“but
I thought this
was
supposed to
be
a celebration
of
American culture.”
A Slice of Stalin Pie
You are a slave the great silent pogram
coursing through the veins of the world;
in Stomachville [every town is Stomachville] you make me sick;
keep that asbestos outta the ground, would ya? outta the dermis of the Vale—
Spanish Spinach dips of quohawk status at Chuck’s, a pizza joint owned by a giant mouse donning a hat and vest [or rat?—               what’s the difference?]               [are rats bigger or are rats just outdoor mice?—               who the fuck am I talking to?— ]
through thought
Pynchon is pretty geniusical—                              his books
not commonly wrought,
readers left reeling
really reeling readers turnt befuddled
[you will get your sloppy puckerkiss]
spread Martians by wind blownover
hyena hygene
the girl in a summer dress with elk horns growing out of her head
at least not a Medusinal woman with electric ells growing out of her head wavering in electric jolts
zaps
               [a great Sapienening of the Vale is happening]
sapling sipping the water from the dirt, agrowing.
(note: talk more about sudden death of hummingbirds—counter them with the sudden inexplicable death of bees—liken them to bees ((more sudden hummingbirds actually)) (( ((giant flippingwinged insects))) (((dinos))) ((precepts of raindeath)) ((Tinnitus kept me in the frozen this jail of this Januarium hovering over us with pink sky pinkeye pigeye;))
if you count there will be a human in the belly of the tree       branching out [naturally?]
I blunk a blunk and missed everything else you published with your mouth—
for once a foot tall
                                                            and never the limelight
               is not even of taste—
                                             you’re rickets have multiplied
I dialed out and Fozzy Bears answered
               limn lipwooden language      at cost
     the most                                                                            money I’ve evern carvern seen
                                                            see-ee-ee-n visions of the world unite!
and witness the essence of the Manmade version of the Vale!—
                                                            [A SPILLED CAN OF PAINT]
Heath Brougher attended Temple University. He has been previously published in BlazeVOX, MiPOesias, Diverse Voices Quarterly, Of/With, Van Gogh's Ear, Inscape Literary Journal, and elsewhere.