♦ Poetry by Rustin Larson ◊ StreetArt by FPLO ♦
I was camping in only a sleeping bag
When I woke to some wild pigs snuffling
In the pine straws. It was just
Dawn, and the skies hadn’t quite
Finished their weeping when
A lioness, a puma, skulked into the camp
With a lust for pig’s
Blood on her tongue
And a glassy glint in her eyes
Like someone I had once known, a mother-in-law
Or midwife, in Bethlehem
The night the soldiers stuck
The firstborn through on pikes.
The pigs suddenly found power
To skip through the branches
Like squirrels or pine martens,
And the lionesses (now there were five)
Gave chase, snarling
And snapping at pig flanks
But never quite sinking tooth
Into the sweet flesh.
Realizing I was an easier
Breakfast for puma, I fumbled
For the bicycle I had been sleeping on
All night, and erected a getaway,
Still tented by my sleeping bag,
Down the gravel drive and eventually
To the pavement that ribboned
Through the misty hills
To the lodge where you were working,
It seemed, as a hostess, a clerk
Keeping the keys of rooms adorned
With a magic eye above each door.
You had always been beautiful to me,
And I was so happy to see you
And to wrap the arm I had injured somehow,
And which hurt so badly,
Around you. I asked, “Is there anything
I can get you?” And you said,
“Can you make me some macaroni and cheese?”
For you, sweetie, I said, “Of course I can,” and so
Was led by a gaseous singing to a stove
Where I boiled the water,
Cooked the pasta, and when I had
All but finished preparing what you wanted,
You said, “Wait!” and then made me
Stir in a bag full of plastic snowman
Cupcake ornaments. This made me worry
About you, and it made me cry for a half hour,
And I wanted so desperately
To write you that moment. Let it suffice
To say that later that night I dreamed
You had agreed to marry me, and preparations
Were being made at the lodge
For the wedding: silver streamers
And paper bells and long rows of tables
Sprinkled with confetti. You let me see you
Undressed, your hair still wet from a shower.
I can’t understand why I protested,
Your skin warm to my touch, but I said,
“It’s unfair. You are so attractive.
The power of attraction is all that exists.
I have no chance.”
And you stood there, slender and beautiful,
And slowly shook your head,
And I had no power to move.
Dedicated to the Cell Phone Girl in Comp 1
Like, I was walking down the street, and like
All the sudden, like, I said, Oh My God!
Like I have this vagina! And I like all of
The sudden I’m like having this baby
And I’m like Oh My God! I’m like having
A baby like right here on the street
And so I like say to my girlfriend
Like can I have a drink of your diet Pepsi
Cause I’m like really thirsty from like
Having that baby and she’s like NO
WAY and I’m like YES WAY bitch!
And like all the sudden the baby like
Starts spinning on this silver plate and like
It’s all bloody and disgusting and I feel
Like I’m going to puke right there
And then this cop comes along and like
Starts saying like you are going to jail
Because of this like baby on a plate
And he’s calling my mom and
I’m like crying and saying like please
Don’t call my mom and my mom is like
totally ballistic but like what the fuck
I’d like do it all again anyway
See more Street art from Fabio Panone Lopes (#FPLO) at http://www.fabiopanonelopes.com/
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