May 6th, 2005
Unclean 53
Still in Vermouth, Alberta. Posting this from
the road. Must say, the ambulance is a real winner.
In back woods hicktown. At a funeral. Already,
I have been asked three times where I was when
they needed me, and once, I was asked if I was
going to sub in for the hearse.
---
Unless your legs are broken, go see
The Unclean this weekend. It's only on for
a limited time.
---
Unclean 53
slept in the hostel
the night after the homeless shelter burnt down
met a weathered Englishman in the bathroom
who stopped me to say
you know
I’m a philosopher
and we talked evolution and Nietzsche and god
for two solid hours
holding our toothbrushes
how liberating to have no home, I thought
how civilized, how good to be a philosopher king
to travel the world for years
later that night
as we all slept in bunks beside each other
with the doors taken off their hinges
a corpulent black Frenchman
snored so loudly across the hall
that none of us could sleep
the Englishman got up
walked over to his bed
and started screaming
that he would kill him for snoring so fucking
loudly
and slapped him thunderously
and repeatedly
until the offender was too frightened to fall
back asleep
May 4th, 2005
Unclean 47
For reasons that I would rather not discuss,
I will be out of town for the next day or two.
Suffice to say, it involves Chloe, a funeral (no
one I know) and a road trip to a small town Alberta.
You never see this shit coming. In the meantime,
here's one last Unclean.
---
dead rabbit on the road to the bridge
twisted and brown
broken ice on the river
catching in the bends
smoke slides out
the carpenter’s mouth
as he stumbles
rattling ashcans
still wearing his blue fatigues
ten years after he was cut loose
for drinking on the worksite
no meat on that rabbit
anyways
looking down from the ironworks of the bridge
at the muddy water
the drifting snow
calculating the drop in board feet
thinking
that should do the job
May 3rd, 2005
Unclean 40
some construction company’s
been taking ten men
every morning
but not today
leaving Indian Mike
with his laced up boots
holding his sleeping bag
with nothing to do but get drunk
stay out of the way of the police
and hope for tomorrow’s sun
May 2nd, 2005
The Unclean - Opening Day
The Unclean art / poetry show starts
today. For those who missed it last week: the
show is a collection of paintings by artist Shelley
Rothenburger, with about forty new poems by myself.
Instead of writing these poems in a book, however,
I have handwritten them onto the walls between
the paintings. It seems to be cheaper this way.
The show is on display from May 2nd to May 31st
at the Fringe Gallery, located at 10516 Whyte
Avenue. The Gallery is right beside The Paint
Spot, down from Chapters. So, go on – get
your full dose of literature and painting in one
easy shot before dropping a pint some afternoon.
And yes, it's completely free.
Here's a sample of what you'd see if you went
down and checked it out. Look for this kind of
thing all week:
Unclean 45
when the street preacher
starts to make too much sense
to a gaggle of delinquents
the man who drives a motorcycle
with a milk crate strapped to the back
and wears a long brown mullet
under a German paratrooper helmet
intervenes
pushes the preacher off his box
and steps on his neck
says
I see the world stripped of her pretty mask
and she is a bitter old hag
so it’s time to lie on your back
and think of the way things are
you fucking amateur
But What Happened Last
Week? By God, Find Out Here!
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May 2nd - May 8th, 2005