Preview of “Proverbs,” Part 1
The original idea for proverbs, to make an absurdist, experimental book of poetry under the guise of something you might grab in the check-out line of Barnes & Noble, came to me while sitting behind the front desk at work in August of 2019. While the final product ended up being something more along the lines of an I Ching-inspired ode to modern delusion, I still think back fondly on my original iteration of the book’s subtitle: “100 Small Somthings for Definitely Someone.”
There are 80 poems in this (nearly) final version, numbered by a sequence determined by flipping a coin. Heads meant strike, tails meant space, with each entry building on the previous. Luck and chance are a major themes in “Proverbs,” as these topics fascinate me—in how they’re capable of altering the world, and how they’re misperceived. Coming to terms with luck, chance, and never being the biggest fish, is essential to finding purity of self and Truth. Without reconciliation here, people grow bitter in age, carrying their inadequacies like anchors until death. Below is a preview of a few poems that delve into this topic.
IIIIII II II I I
Con-led farsity brought
To the brink
Extinction of self
Stepping back toward destitution only
Renowned deep in living
It’s all a hoax
IIIIII II II I II
Complete riddlement
Words meaning intention versus—
Verse?—
WHåT was meant by some(-)
One else otherwise maritimely lost
Seesawing localized failure into at(-)mo(st)( )spheric
Aggrandizement, the eternal wave
IIIIII II II I II II
Grit sandpaper and chalk
Never ski(m)(p)ping superlatives
The estest of estest
Certainly not
Elated for the right reason
On your own
There’s enough fabrication
For a day full of lies
IIIIII II II I II II II I IIII II I I I II
Dying's taken
For granted you'll soon be
Dead-on
Hard-to-shake
Free of inhibition
A stone-skipping lake
IIIIII II II I II II II I IIII II I I I II I
Why's it all designed so
Casing needs
Going erround
The great wall of eternity
Inherent in everything inherited
Wide eyes bulging fear
Grasp at weakness
Grownup honest as a spiritual lead-
Er—gyrating toward pay
