Robert O'Neal : Poem

IMPOLITE PIXELS THROUGH A COSMIC CLOWN'S CIRCUITRY

for Clint Watson

Driving irony:
there is a sect of Hinduism
which perceives our bodies
as ". . .wounds with 9 holes . . ."
imagine that!
we're putt-putt golf for the pantheon.

Ectoplasmic Abortion:
the Japanese believe
their children, until 7 years of age
. . . live with the gods . . .",
& I'm seething, would enjoy nothing more
than cracking the skulls of the cowards who
imposed such an arbitrary time limit on wonder.

Gaelic Golem:
sure, The Hulk & I
have bent elbows together,
he's a fellow irishman, after all,
you've seen the tattered trousers,
the glamorous hue of his hide
(it figures, green ink would be cheaper),
how exploitation & persecution enrage him,
a bona fide, barefooted spalpeen^*
if ever I hoisted a yard with one.

Common Mud:
I concede, there is veracity
to Ayn Rand's sentiment . . .
. . . the Buddhist tranquility
induced by a fat savings account.
then again, once Atlas shrugged her off,
she departed the planet with no more to
her name than than a universally-shared number
of Ecoli subdividing her intestinal tract.
karma was a gold-plated chamber pot.
Year of the Monkey:
we may've powdered Darwin's bones, but . . .
. . . can't turn into an instant progression upwards,
regardless of the blkood, sperm, & moral rectitude added,
despite the sophistication of out tools, because
. . .the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak . . ."
we eat, we fuck, we fight,
             we fear,
we find ourselves swinging through leafless trees.

^*Spalpeen: Literally, "penny-scythe," the term applied to the indigenous population of 17th -18th c. Ireland, of whom was required to pay an annual penny tax to their English overlords. Already reduced to abject poverty, the majority of them could not afford shoes, and consequently went without.

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Robert O'Neal's poetry has appeared in numerous publications throughout the world including Blue Collar Review, Devil Blossoms, Now Here No Where, and The Plastic Tower. His most recent collection, Pinfeathers, Primates & Paradoxes, was published by Pitchfork Press in 2003.