EILEEN R. TABIOS and SANDY MCINTOSH'S "EILEEN R. TABIOS"

(This feature is part of TRUCK’s Theme Issue on the List or Catalog Poem. You can go HERE for an Index of the Participating Poets.)

from “I FORGOT LIGHT BURNS”

“What is to give light must endure burning.”

—Victor E. Frankl

I forgot I was a connoisseur of alleys—

I forgot the glint from the fang of a wild boar as he lurked behind shadows in a land where it only takes one domino to fall—

I forgot how quickly civilization can disappear, as swiftly as the shoreline from an oil spill birthed from a twist of the wrist by a drunk vomiting over the helm—

I forgot grabbing at my fading dreams only to recall a vision of skyscrapers crumbling from the slaps of iron balls—

*

I forgot mangos, eaten before they ripened—they were savored with much salt and first soaked in vinegar—

*

I forgot a brother—

I forgot the brother who gave me a rainbow trapped within enamel—

*

I forgot the light burned and we never shaded our eyes—

*

I forgot discovering the limited utility of calm seas—

I forgot appreciating a delicadeza moonlight as much as any long-haired maiden—

I forgot the stance of cliffs meeting water—

*

I forgot I was not an immigrant; I was simply myself who lacked control at how the world formed outside the “Other” of me—

I forgot learning to appreciate rust, and how it taught me bats operate through radar—

*****

Eileen R. Tabios
 


By Sandy McIntosh 

"I really think you should title this poem 'Eileen R. Tabios'"

--Eileen R. Tabios



Eileen R. Tabios 


Announced today 


That her next book 


Will be 
5000 pages long. 


In an unrelated development

Eileen R. Tabios 


Announced 


That she has acquired 


A major interest 


In International Harvester, 


The only U.S. manufacturer 


Of oversize-poetry forklifts. 



It was learned 


Early today 


That Eileen R. Tabios' 


Book for the next year 


Will be 


13,000 pages long. 


In an unrelated development 


Eileen R. Tabios 


Announced 


That she has acquired 


San Francisco's famous 


Coit Tower 


Which she will turn 


Into a library 


Housing one large print 


Version of her book. 



It was learned 


Early today 


That Eileen R. Tabios 


Has acquired large tracts 


Of the Pacific Ocean 


For an unknown purpose. 


In an unrelated development 


Eileen R. Tabios 


Announced 


That the number of pages 


Of her future books 


Will be counted 


In leagues and fathoms. 



It was learned 


Early today 


(continued next page)

______

("I FORGOT LIGHT BURNS" is from I FORGOT LIGHT BURNS by Eileen R. Tabios (Moria Books, Chicago, 2015)

"Eileen R. Tabios" was first published in The After-Death History of My Mother by Sandy McIntosh (Marsh Hawk Press, New York, 2005)

HALVARD JOHNSON

(This feature is part of TRUCK’s Theme Issue on the List or Catalog Poem. You can go HERE for an Index of the Participating Poets.)

Favorite California Churches

Church of the Sacred Cucumber

St. Vitamin's

Santa Cuisinart

Church of the Holy Rose Bowl

St. Vim and St. Vigor

2nd Church of Santa Clarification and Mudslide

Temple of the Seedless Orange

Valley United Methadone

Iglesia de Julio

Seventh Chapel of San Andreas de Culpa

Our Lady of Dolores del Rio

Synagogue Ben Hur

Cathedral of the Blessed Catheter

Vielle priére bouddhique

May all things flow into whatever it is they are flowing into.

May those who are lost find happiness in their lostness.

May those who cannot tie their shoelaces learn to do without shoes.

May those who behead one another keep their wits about them.

May those who are slack straighten up and fly right.

May the powerless learn to remember to pay their bills on time.

May those who are unagitated bestir themselves to action.

May those who are angry chill out. May all your prayers

be answered or, perhaps even better, unanswered.

6 Kirghiz Proverbs

                   "It comes as the Kirghiz light."

                                   --Thomas Pynchon

1.   One who does not respect one's father,

will also not respect one's grandfather.

2.   Better to have dry farmland than to have

a father who is in charge of water distribution.

3.   It is as if the Moon gave birth to one's front

and the Sun gave birth to one's back.

4.   One who has six sons has cattle in six places.

5.   Money is good in an urban area.

6.   A stupid man builds a house, 

an intelligent man makes friends.

Retrospective Narratives

*

Once up

on a time.

*

A darkened

stormy knight.

*

Lonely horse

man riding

in two towns.

*

Best of

worst of.

*

Wood you

believe in.

_________

Poems first published in Remains to Be Seen (New York: Spuyten Duyvil, 2013)

JIM McCRARY

(This feature is part of TRUCK’s Theme Issue on the List or Catalog Poem. You can go HERE for an Index of the Participating Poets.)

Twenty Ways To Write a Poem

Meditate

Nap

Dream a dreamy dream

Beg

Borrow

Steal

Revise

Refuse

Reduce

Recycle

Pray

Scream

Open a window

Close a door

Shut it off

Shut it down

Scoop it up

Dish it out

Question

Start Again

Say you will quit

Don't quit

Give up

Give in

Give away

If all else fails...submit

*****

Jim McCrary when he wasn't old:

SHLOKA SHANKAR

(This feature is part of TRUCK’s Theme Issue on the List or Catalog Poem. You can go HERE for an Index of the Participating Poets.)

Looking Out the Window

A streetlight comes on.

The neighbor’s bike comes to a halt.

He opens the gate.

Across the street, a little girl

plays hop-scotch.

She dusts her dress.

Shadows of bare tree branches

create patterns on the window

farthest from me.

The air is faintly chillier

than it was an hour ago.

I hear bursts of silence between

plying vehicles.

Walking past my window,

a man cracks his knuckles.

Headlights become brighter

momentarily.   

Another day unwinds itself

into night.