Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Vampire Energy

When we were kids

They

Worked tirelessly

To

Ensure we would

Rinse dishes

Wash windows

Make beds

Clean clothes


Now?

We pat ourselves

On our backs

Long past

Days of kitchen counters

Filthy

Swarming

Fruit flies

Beer bottles

Leftover from

Parties three weeks ago


Look Ma

Look Dad

We can

Play adult!

We can

Be grown-ups too!


While I relax before bed

You

Must think

It is art class

2nd grade

You keep all the lights on

The house glows

At all angles

As if it would

Look like a firefly

From space

When you leave

I am not

Collecting your dishes

Or

Emptying your garbage

No

But

I am

Flicking switches

Cursing loudly

I am

Not your babysitter

Nor your parent

Not a caregiver

Grow up

Clean up after yourself

Quit wasting our damn energy

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Die, Vampire, Die! from Title of Show

I can not claim credit for this gem, but since it was part of my inspiration for INTERVIEW VAMPIRES I thought it deserved a spot on the blog. The song is a part of the relatively new musical TITLE OF SHOW, about two guys writing a musical about two guys writing a musical. In a way, it's annoying, but in a way it's very genius as well. As those of you readers may or may not know, I am THE BIGGEST musical fanatic, and I'm always looking for new and innovative ones. So without further ado, I give you DIE VAMPIRE DIE! from TITLE OF SHOW.

DIE VAMPIRE DIE!


There are some people in the world who say that writing stories,
Or composing music or dancing sparkly dances is easy for them.
Nothing interferes with their ability to create.
While I celebrate their creative freedom,
A little part of me just wants to punch those motherfuckers in the teeth.
This song, I sing this song for you guys and for all the rest of us. Help me out Y’all

We’ll sing backup

You have a story to tell, a novel you keep in a drawer.

Old sock drawer!

You have a painting to paint, but you lazy like an old French whore

Je suis whore

You have a movie to make, Shrinky Dinks you can bake
But you best grab a stake, cause,
In sweep the vampires, in creep the vampires, knee deep in vampires,
Filling you with doubt. Insecurity, ‘bout what you art should be
In sweep the vampires

Die vampire

You sketched that turtle you saw in an ad on late-night cable TV

Tippy Turtle!

But your fourth grade teacher said

You can’t draw

Aww, those vampires just won’t let you be

Fuck you Ms. Johnson, Word!

And when they come run like hell, see those bats in your belfry, then call on Van Helsing.

In swoosh

Ooh, the vampires

In a whoosh

Ooh, the vampires,

Babaganoosh

Ooh, all the vampires

Filling you with thoughts of

Self consciousness

Feelings of

Worthlessness

They’ll make you

Second guess
Die vam-

-pire!

There are so many vampires, inside, outside, and nationwide,
It helps to recognize them with this vampire hunting guide!
Listen closely,
A vampire is any person or thought or feeling
That stands between you and your creative self expression,
But they can assume many seductive forms.
Here’s a few of them!

Tell us Susan!

First up are you pigmy vampires.
They’ll swarm around you head like gnats and say things like:

Your teeth need whitening

You went to state school?

You sound weird

Shakespeare, Sondheim, Sedaris

Did it before you and better than you, or they might say that you cannot
Sing good enough to be in a musical, or they might say:

Ooh, your song’s derivative,
Ooh, your song’s derivative,
Ooh, your song’s derivative,

To keep that song from you! Just tell them:

Die vampire, die!

Brothers and sisters, next up is the air freshener vampire,
She might look like you mama, or your old fat-ass, fat aunt Fanny.
She smells something unpleasant in what you’re creating.
She’ll urge you to:

Clean it up.

(Spraying sound)

It with some pine fresh smell ’em ups.
The air freshener vampire doesn’t want you to write about

Bad language, blood, or blow jobs

She wants you to clean it up and clean it out.
Which will leave your work toothless, gutless, and crotchless
But, you’ll be left with two tight paragraphs,
All kittens that your grandma would be so proud of.
You look at that air freshener vampire in her fat ass, fat old fuckin’ face and you Say

(Chanting)

The last vampire is the mother of all vampires and that is the vampire of despair.
It’ll wake you up at 4am to say things like:

Who do you think you’re kidding?
You look like a fool.
No matter how hard you try, you’ll never be good enough

Why is it that if some dude walked up to me on the subway platform
And said these things, I’d think he was a mentally ill asshole,
But if the vampire inside my head says it,
It’s the voice of reason.

You have a story to tell, pull your novel out of that sock drawer!
You have a painting to paint, you best paint it and then paint some more!


Oh baby, you must escape and grab it by the nape of its neck, by the trachea
Fuckin’ break it, go on drive a stake in,
Yeah there’s no mistaking, now you’re shake and bakin’

Die, vampire
I said, “Die, vampire”
I said, “Now die vam-pi-re, die!”

In fly the vampires, oh my the vampires, then die the vampires,
Filling you with life, creativity, all that you heart should be, out go the vampires
Die vampire, die vampire, die vampire, die!



Music and writing credits go to Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen.

Official show site is here, in case any of you faithful readers are here.

Need to hear it to make the most of it?
This is the closest video I could find with DIE VAMPIRE DIE in it.

What about it readers? What kind of vampire is yours? I personally identify with the vampire of despair, but it's different for everyone.

Back to regularly scheduled poetry now. Thank you for the interruption break.

The Norwegian Vampire

The Norwegian vampire is not a vampire at all.

There is no need for garlic or crosses hanging above.
No sharp fangs reaching down along your neck.
No bites. No blood.

Not in this place of dense forests and high mountains.

Instead, the Norwegians fear the Troll.
His long crooked nose points out at you.
His rancid odor tickles your nostril hairs.
His red skin boils over in puss and sores under his tattered clothes.
His eyes hold darkness and lonlieness, an involuntary solitude.
In the caves. Under the rocks. In the forests.

The earth shatters and shakes as he comes after you.
A mammoth of a monster chasing you down.
He craves to boil you alive and eat your flesh little by little.

Your only defense is the coming dawn.
Sun.
Daylight.
A safe way home down the moutain valley.

One ray of light will turn this troll to stone.
And once in stone, he can become a monument.
Memoralizing the tradition of fear among the darkness.
The villagers now gaze up at a monster no longer a threat.

But, if the sun does not rise tomorrow.
If the darkness overcomes you.
There is no hope.

Little by little, you will become his feast.
You evolve into the shadows and secrets of the forest.
You become the story. The fairytale. The legend.

And with a legend, the fear is passed on.
The Norwegian Vampire, the Troll
keeps you out of the forest and in the light.

Safe and sound.

But the water continues to boil high up in the mountains.
He waits for you.
Curiosity and foolish Americans are like salt and pepper for this troll.
Signe Maten!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The interview vampire

The interview vampires
Are the voices in my head
That tell me to go away
And go to sleep for a thousand years

They tell me that you will never get a job
That I will never have the experience
Needed to succeed
The interview vampires take over

Mostly at night
Right before I drift off to sleep
They keep me from drifting to sleep
The interview vampires are real

Every twenty-something
Has experience the wrath of
The interview vampires at
Some time or another

The interview vampires don't wear black
They don't suck blood
And they don't have fangs
They are very real, however

In my mind, the interview vampires
Take the form of an older man
Dressed in a three piece suit with tie
He smells of sharp cologne

The interview vampire
Fights a nasty fight
With pictures and words
And profanity

"What makes you feel that you can handle
A room full of pre-pubescent human beings?"
By yourself
Alone

"Why do you think you deserve a benefits package and a retirement plan?"
Two years of national service
Doesn't count
Inside the mind of the interview vampire.

The interview vampire
Will make you believe
That you are fully capable
Of nothing more than losing your mind.

The interview vampire
Will grab hold of your
Sanity
And hang on

For dear life

Sunday, September 13, 2009

just me, my dad, and the vampires (an ode to insomnia)

you have your father's eyes
people tell me

and like his eyes
they have trouble staying closed

when i was a teenager
my dad pretended to snore in the basement
while i snuck out my window

he never told on me

because
if you don't sleep
you don't sleep around.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Ashen

Her face was ashen
Not totally sure
What this word means
Ashen
Yet
Ashen it was
It was as if something
Car crash
Miscarriage
Incorrectly told she had won the lottery
Had directly impacted her
Turns out
She always looked that way
I suppose that is a good reason
To look ashen
Was her face the chicken
Or the egg?