July 19-25, 1999: Greg Stant and Chocolate Waters

Bio(auto)

Greg Stant is in transition He lives in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania.

The following work is Copyright © 1999, and owned by Greg Stant and may not be distributed or reprinted in any form whatsover without written permission from the author.

Scales

I wrap the green fish around me Wear it like a glove I shake one more time, howl My back breaks The temple children run You can’t remember the last time you took a bath This is the grace of devils and white line Mile markers got eyes I groan one last millionth time and grab the wheel Kansas is long and uneventful I remember nothing Kansas is like that
Missouri hotel room I know this I have a receipt It must have been uncomfortable The walls must have been to close or maybe I didn’t like the paintings I got back in the fish I swim over the guardrail Catatonia and oily scales on the steering wheel,  bumps of excitement on the back of my hand State Representative gives me a ride to the hospital where nobody knows your name I wait in line for meds I wear knit shoes We stand in circles and reach for air We beg for cigarettes We are charted, folded,  spindled
60 miles to the center of Missouri, the fish is being mended The sound of my feet coming from the Salvation Army I beg a room and sprinkle thanks on the Christian lady I walk for miles to the shoe box Waiting for the fish to be fixed Keep the angels out I sit in the shoe box on the other end of the line Corkscrew worms dance in my guts
The past comes rushing out The aftermath of a bad meal I hear whispers I hear you Black and white sounds I stretch on the bed I try to find a place for my head It takes up too much space It’s too heavy It’s too large My head is a mushroom cloud I’m drawing shallow I make phone calls Plead for money Plead for love I got to get the scales back on the fish and the fish back in the water God of white line madness, have mercy on my soul God of cracked concrete and redneck mechanics, seal the breech and embalm the gears I didn’t mean it, and if I could take it back, I would Fuse the crack on the concrete highway I know they would swallow me whole Send money Send metal filings and epoxy Wrap them around my heart, wrap the fish around my body and let there be high test for all my days to come I didn’t mean it, and if I could take it back, I would Amen
A storm rolls in from the south and the world is ozone I walk out into the parking lot I wonder if the lightening would choose me
No such luck
(Previously published in Aether )

SexDream

I am an equal opportunity sex dreamer When I have a dream about fuck, everybody gets laid-even me
My fuck dreams do not discriminate by race, social standing, prison record, political record, or physical appearance (thank god) Even butt ugly people are getting fuck in my dream-although not necessarily with human beings, people of the opposite sex,  or even people with their extremities intact Sometimes they are relegated to finding carnal pleasure with obscene objects of art,  rubbing themselves raw with multimedia events, slapped together wall paneling presents a Brillo Pad extravaganza, sort of a Jackson Pollock rip-off acid trip splattered mess of nails and oil based acrylics mounted on three burnt logs from South Central L.A ,  shrink wrapped in demented splendor by a Venice Beach artist who found God and PCP on the same weekend does the rough and dirty deed with my pasty faced, antediluvian second grade teacher, Mrs Britton; seemingly too old to fuck, but look at her now Thanks to the auspices of an equal opportunity sex dream she’s loving every minute of it like the man screwing the living room couch,  with each thrust buries himself deeper, then deeper into the crack between the back and the cushion, while the appropriately named love seat squeaks, moans and flaps in glad participation, excited to feel the front of a human being-for a change-fuck your shag rug Have you ever seen the joy with which an ‘all-the-time-walked-on’ never-caressed, shag rug fucks? Happy to have some love and contact,  shag rug will roll your ass up, fuck you like; well, like a rug; take your ass to ecstasy, make you jaculate, and spit you out the other side with a smile and a lit cigarette
My equal opportunity sex dream will let you have the persona you’ve always wanted It will keep your teeth white, breath fresh, and eliminate that bad speech impediment in a burning hot flash of fuck You will actually feel, your cunt tighten, cock lengthen,  breasts harden, while firming up those flabby butt cheeks
My sex dream doesn’t cost any money, need to go to dinner, or wanna be your significant mother; doesn’t want to meet your parents,  marry you, or need a diamond ring It doesn’t want a prenuptial agreement it doesn’t care that your condo is paid off-in full,  or give one-half of one-tenth of-a-fuck that you drive a Jag,  or own a gold Cartier wristwatch-it is not impressed
My sex dream lives just for fuck It will do anybody, anywhere,  anytime; fucked the guy everybody can’t stand, likes it from behind in the quarter movie room, did the boss’s daughter on his desk; fucked in the confessional screamin! like, “Jesus-ah ah ahJESUS!”; fucked the family jar of mayonnaise for a ten good years, and never told a soul
My sex dream’s pussy is sapping wet-and-it-is-ready to do you,  right-here, right fucking-now It’s tit’s are rock-hard and fueled with pain It’s cock is death-stiff, turning blue and breathing heavy Sex dream likes the bed crowded, ain’t afraid of handcuffs,  and sticks a mean nipple down your throat, while fucking you at ninety miles per hour-without insurance; does not need be held or kissed after it comes, and does not run for the towel after the dirty deed is done Prefers to, kinda, swim in it for-awhile
Sex dream is in love with another woman, is in love with another man; wants to fuck your girlfriend, already has, it was good,  real good, is gonna show you the pictures to shut you up the next time your drunk and obnoxious; masturbates, thinks about you masturbating,  and wonders what your face looks like when you come; Sex Dream is intent on staying home alone tonight and rubbinit-’till it’s raw
It’s one hundred ten miles per hour screaming down the highway ready to blindly die for another piece of fuck It’s looking in your bathroom window, jacking off like crazy, staying up late at night writing obscene stories for titty magazines
My sex dream is an artist, a waiter, a truck driver with BO, and it does not think you need a douche with a pretty picture on the box so your pussy wussy can have that “April fresh scent”

Sex Dream’s a gallon and a half of Wesson Oil, looking for a party on a steamy Friday night Sex Dream’s a sick champagne bottle up your Fatty Arbuckle ass
Sex Dream’s a demented clap with no sound, that will go anywhere,  or do anything to get what it wants And what it wants is more fuck And, until it gets some-more-fuck, it’s filled with angst wondering if it’s going to lose it’s fucking mind
In my equal opportunity sex dream every motherfucking thing object animal person molecule atom and quark, pops it’s rocks
When I have a dream about fuck, everything gets laid

.even me .

Chocolate Waters
choczilla@isfree.com

http://www.poetrycafe.com/anthology/waters/

Bio(auto)

Chocolate Waters’ latest collection, Illusion Junkie Downtown,  will be released by Cedar Hill Publishing sometime next year The author of three previous collections, she is also the recipient of a 1995 New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship in Poetry and a 1990 fellowship from the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund Her work, which has been nominated for several Puschcart prizes, is widely published and currently appears in the Coffeehouse Poetry Anthology, Howling Dog, Libido and the new anthology AndWhat Rough Beast Current work can also be browsed on the Web at the Poetry Café, Zero City, Perihelion, and the Astrophysicist’s Tango Partner Speaks Other work is upcoming in Disquieting Muses and Conspire
Waters’ three books: To the Man Reporter From the Denver Post, Take Me Like A Photograph and Charting New Waters are available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com A pioneer in women’s publishing and in the art of performance poetry, she has toured throughout the United States, but makes her home in Manhattan Hailed as the “Poet Laureate of Hell’s Kitchen,” Waters teaches poetry workshops, tutors individual clients and is a frequent participant in the New York poetry circuit.

The following work is Copyright © 1998, and owned by Chocolate Waters and may not be distributed or reprinted in any form whatsover without written permission from the author.

What’s a Bi-Cuspal Woman To Do?
(the dilemma of an Aquarian on the cusp of Capricorn)

My Aquarius says,
I love everybody in the world My Capricorn warns,
Don’t be a fool; they’ll mug you My Aquarius says,
Roam around the country
writing poetry and making love My Capricorn retorts,
Stay home and get a real job Aquarius says,
Wow, you look more like Ava Gardner every day Capricorn guffaws,
And you know how long she’s been dead Aquarius says,
I can change the world Capricorn snickers,
You can’t even change a dollar bill Why don’t you just kill yourself and get it over with?
My Aquarius sighs,
because I?ll probably have to come back –
as a Capricorn.

Take Me Like a Photohraph

I’ve never had a lover like you I feel like I’m in a windstorm
raining Breathing love songs Taking pictures of myself
to hang along the trees You have loved me for myself,
not a picture of me
someone else has taken,
while I fade out reach out
hang myself I want to give you
rainstorms,
quiet gentle windstorms,
trees,
whisper to you songs
of windstorms Take me like
a photograph Hold me
like a tree I will love you
stronger than
a windstorm.

The Eggnog Lady

I wear my fear
like a wedding ring I do not want
to be married
to Manhattan
I want a job
I go to the New York Public Library at 42nd Street
to apply for one
Come back in ten years but do
take a look at our new
96-frame photographic exhibition on landscapes
I’m scared I say to the first print
I have no work I say to the 15th print
No place to live I say to the 34th print
I don’t have any friends I say to the 51st print
All I have is my fear
and I’m very protective of it
New York, NY If I can make it there
I sing
to the rest of the 45 prints
in the 96-frame photographic exhibition
on landscapes
I laugh
as if something is amusing
Outside a woman begging on the street
asks me if it’s OK to mix rum with eggnog
I tell her to drink the eggnog
and forget the rum
Her eyes roll down my face
I have 54 cents
I give her all of it
She thanks me through the holes in her teeth
Tells me she will forget the eggnog
I see her face in 96 delicatessen windows
ask her if she’ll be
my maid of honor

First Woman

First woman
Your name was not Eve
You did not offer me
apples
You touched me
I quivered
Then suffered
Then regretfully
threw up
I denied you
more than
three times
You confessed
to your priest
who laughed
You confessed
Your love
to me
I did not
laugh
when you threw me
out of
your life
like an apple
I wrote you
a love song
with a man’s name
instead of yours
First woman
Your name
was Sharon
I sprang
half-grown
from the
touch
of your
first woman’s
hands