PART V: creative piece

How much money does your integrity cost?
You’ve been nickel’d and dime’d
Two cents’d and
half witted
willingly?

Are you awake when you wake up?
Or do you justwalk around,
eyelids shut,
senses shot
hollowed out

Do you understand satisfaction?
I can’t relate
Comprehend
Feel
That which is a lie

What does it feel like to stare at the sun?
Are you pretending?
Closing your eyes?
Truly blind?

How do you sit?
Indian-style?
Cowboy style?
(What’s your pose?) [What’s your stance?]

Why not protest?
The new Vietnam war
Here

Because all wars are the same
Regardless of their name




This is an untitled poem I wrote in response to researching Russian Futurism and reading poems by Vladimir Mayakovsky. I tried to incorporate a few aspects that are characteristic of the Russian Futurist art movement. The most obvious would be the structure of the poem, that is, the placement of words. Taking into consideration the fact that the Futurists believed words deserved the same kind of care as visual art, like sculpture, I placed the words in a fashion that I found aesthetically pleasing, particularly because of the disjointedness of the beat. Another aspect I worked with was the political theme. I wrote about certain aspects of American society that concern me, like Mayakovsky did in Bolshevik Russia. For a third aspect, I tried to address the reader often, and demand their attention with an unrelenting, interrogatory progression. This is not a particularly great poem, but I think it captures the essence of the movement.


Edit 5/29: I've realized after looking over this again that Blogger formatted my poem to be a straight list downward. That sucks and ruins the effect a bit, but if you click your heels, squint your eyes and sprinkle a little bit of fairy dust, you can understand what I mean in my above post. Or, you can ask me for it. Whatever's cool with me, man.