21 Scenes by Will Roby

This is from Issue 7, originally published in 2002.


21 Scenes

1 ---

paralyzed, i wouldn't
put
it past you.
Both golden Holy
Arms stuck
standard
and Permanent
to your side.
there's a hole there.

2 ---

gorgeous is
300 lb. redneck
or
everyboy with
blonde hair
Prepping for Proms.
gorgeous = beautiful
dates on thick
chickengrease arms.
beautiful arms
nailed
w/Holy Cross letter
jackets.

3 ---

my Crucifix cried, well
my old lady's
crucifix
cried, but the tears
weren't colored.
as young
Negroes playing in this
sandbox. only
the dirt is Red.
Nails full of dirt.

4 ---

only
outed
couple, gay girls
much pierced, pleasant
"newness of
you"
but
they seem infrequent.
kissing hands
only, the
courting Lesbians.

5 ---

ohhh i could have been
Poem King
of this castle, with
my pen, but
the
little women with thick
necks are all in
BrightWhite.
Pretty Woman, there
must be a Prom.

6 ---

in BeaumontTexas
there's Peroxide rain
cancer
and smoke. how we
ever
have
time to eat or
breathe
i don't know.
but, in America
it rains
and cars slide.

7 ---

grey shirts grow
soon if
buried overnight in Beaumont.
soil, much bled on
and composted
to grow
easy
breezes, someone's wearing
my
grandmother's perfume.
this
to
sniff over coffee.

8 ---

tempted tonight to take
ten lines and
touch Teresias (old
oracle)
and be for a Halloween
the
holy space between
teen toes.
but a shoe
leather w/strap
taints tomorrow the
touching. She sweats.

9 ---

when it's time
abandon this table
and all hope. i'm hungry
but
i'm saving my cents
for books - only kid ever
with
glasses
third
grade
when the other kids
touched tits. i read.

10 ---

admit my mistake,
i
want a cigarette,
and
so
bad my ears ring.
oh, but
you don't smoke.
jesus drank wine
and
my friend Cris went
on a wagon.

11 ---

young kids have
broken
t-shirts and loud stereos
so my
goddamned head
hurts
and
my nose bleeds.
look, a spot of blood
7
on
my
shoelace.
makes red dirt.

12 ---

kid's crowns
are blonde
well
everyone is tuned
to the
same
radio station
and this town's
too
small
for broadband anything.
well.

13 ---

too many people
have too
few raincoats, so
that
if
a week is full of
rain
the fashion rules break.
a twig off
this tree turns
red
in muddy rain.

14 ---

so many new
lies
and the coffee
smells
like
money i flipped out
for a tip
out of
my
wallet once.
all the cars
are
electric blue.

15 ---

we wax cars
and
they stay dirty

16 ---

nouveau
is a difficult French
thing.
as a
concept or a
word
to spell.
art
is similar because
it's a
French complication.
we do it anyway.

17 ---

"Diana's dress"
drags dirt
in
decent
molecules
over the tile. her eyes
with a Red halo
lie
in the center
of her
Face.

18 ---

every man should
own
a pink dress shirt
or at least
a
pink tie.
every man should be
ready
to
look good
and pink.

19 ---

water
hangs in the cups
of Leaves.
it is summer
and there's an awful
wreck.
and i'm off
Balance.

20 ---

and the
car, starting,
splashes her thin
angel gown
in Diana's mud. i
clean it
with my inkpen.
"Are you ready?"

Epilogue ---

"he says he'll
pay
you
back."
"oh
my god, he
owes
me."
she smiles.