Andrew Cox
4 poems
**
Cotton Dresses
Pictures we take.....What we draw
One hit wonders.....Scenes on which we look
What’s underneath.....What if we saw
What we aren’t suppose to see
Private moments dipped in bad decisions
The Tom Thumb in our hearts.....Freak show guilt
Good will bakes in the sun and cotton dresses
Accentuate the breasts.....Names we wear like cuff links
The after image of what we did.....In the child’s picture
The sun is yellow.....The yard is green.....The house is brown
The people are not there..... A daughter gets a tattoo
Underneath her arm.....It says.....Keep breathing
**
This Volume
Foreword
No doubt or faith allowed
No talking or quiet allowed
No whimsy or common sense allowed
No help or going it alone allowed
Acknowledgments
Our gratitude to the individuals, institutions, lost languages, ruthless businesses, engineers, architects, babysitters, talking cats, brick and mortar, the sum of everything living and dead, tie-dye t-shirts, time itself that provided us with the latest technical information for use in preparing this volume.
Masthead
Publisher: Entertainer of the Year
Editor-in-Chief: Queen of the Unknown Country
Lead Writer: The Eraser King
Design: One Who Cannot Sew
Research: The Blank Slate
Layout: Specialist in Applied Chaos
Management: On a Need to Know Basis
Terminology
Each word in this volume has been verified with care to the extent that is possible. Sometimes none of the words say what they mean. Sometimes the words herein are at odds with each other. Sometimes many words refer to the same thing. It is recommended that the reader let go and trust the lack of discipline.
Contents
Castles in the Sky……………….......3
Land of Clothes………………….....12-9
Games Played with Dice………….....3 x 1
Forklifts and Other Mysteries…..........21/7
Money as a Kind of Explanation….....1.5 + 1.5
List of Illustrations
Mercy seen as a girl riding a bicycle
Diagram of good intentions
Formative years in cross-section
Signal flags used for communicating with the invisible
Treasure map of all treasure maps
Detailed view wherein many secrets are uncovered
Abbreviations and Symbols
S.F.S.Y.....stop feeling sorry for yourself
+.....positive charge gained from owning a black cat
n.....noun that wants its life back
<.....derived from unknown sources
B/V.....book value of everything you left behind
Index
We are not supplying an index. This volume is designed to be used haphazardly. The organizing principle behind these pages is a trade secret. From front page to back cover, the scope and depth are unintended. Go to any page. Whatever is there represents something beyond the unexpected.
**
Evidence
Eat sleep drink.....much gets left behind
Maybe this is not fit for discussion
Buried in the desert is waste that shines
Wasted seconds.....wasted hours.....wasted days
Missed opportunities whisper.....no one listens
Birds bomb the earth every day
The baby’s diaper needs changing
Cats bury the evidence.....dogs don’t
Maybe we shouldn’t speak about this
Sleep drink eat.....waste is necessary
Suppose you could polish a turd
A piece of excrement now a vulgar term
The dictionary speaks.....no one listens
People will say.....I shit my pants
Someone somewhere begs.....for what.....mercy
Maybe there’s a reason we don’t talk about this
**
What Comes Next
These words want you to come in and sit. The difference between sitting on a bench and in a chair is what comes next.
To navigate without a map is to find the long way home. When you get back each thing is where you left it.
Toys in a playroom are happy when the lights go out. High speed cameras look into the hearts of those who drive by.
Under the skin hides the answer we have been looking for. The myth that a dog can find her way home curls into a ball and falls asleep.
Missed chances smile a crooked smile and leave. Thrones by the water invite the newlyweds to have their picture taken.
The neighborhood has come out to play. Face painting makes it seem as if later there will be sacrifices.
Nouns and verbs have built a city park. The fountains and sidewalks offer a reprieve no matter that it comes with mixed feelings.
**
return to sawbuck 4.4
**
Andrew Cox is the author of the book The Equation that Explains Everything (BlazeVOX press) and two chapbooks, Company X (www.wordvirtual.org) and Fortune Cookies, (www.2River.org). He lives in University City, Missouri, the Brooklyn of St. Louis.
**
Cotton Dresses
Pictures we take.....What we draw
One hit wonders.....Scenes on which we look
What’s underneath.....What if we saw
What we aren’t suppose to see
Private moments dipped in bad decisions
The Tom Thumb in our hearts.....Freak show guilt
Good will bakes in the sun and cotton dresses
Accentuate the breasts.....Names we wear like cuff links
The after image of what we did.....In the child’s picture
The sun is yellow.....The yard is green.....The house is brown
The people are not there..... A daughter gets a tattoo
Underneath her arm.....It says.....Keep breathing
**
This Volume
Foreword
No doubt or faith allowed
No talking or quiet allowed
No whimsy or common sense allowed
No help or going it alone allowed
Acknowledgments
Our gratitude to the individuals, institutions, lost languages, ruthless businesses, engineers, architects, babysitters, talking cats, brick and mortar, the sum of everything living and dead, tie-dye t-shirts, time itself that provided us with the latest technical information for use in preparing this volume.
Masthead
Publisher: Entertainer of the Year
Editor-in-Chief: Queen of the Unknown Country
Lead Writer: The Eraser King
Design: One Who Cannot Sew
Research: The Blank Slate
Layout: Specialist in Applied Chaos
Management: On a Need to Know Basis
Terminology
Each word in this volume has been verified with care to the extent that is possible. Sometimes none of the words say what they mean. Sometimes the words herein are at odds with each other. Sometimes many words refer to the same thing. It is recommended that the reader let go and trust the lack of discipline.
Contents
Castles in the Sky……………….......3
Land of Clothes………………….....12-9
Games Played with Dice………….....3 x 1
Forklifts and Other Mysteries…..........21/7
Money as a Kind of Explanation….....1.5 + 1.5
List of Illustrations
Mercy seen as a girl riding a bicycle
Diagram of good intentions
Formative years in cross-section
Signal flags used for communicating with the invisible
Treasure map of all treasure maps
Detailed view wherein many secrets are uncovered
Abbreviations and Symbols
S.F.S.Y.....stop feeling sorry for yourself
+.....positive charge gained from owning a black cat
n.....noun that wants its life back
<.....derived from unknown sources
B/V.....book value of everything you left behind
Index
We are not supplying an index. This volume is designed to be used haphazardly. The organizing principle behind these pages is a trade secret. From front page to back cover, the scope and depth are unintended. Go to any page. Whatever is there represents something beyond the unexpected.
**
Evidence
Eat sleep drink.....much gets left behind
Maybe this is not fit for discussion
Buried in the desert is waste that shines
Wasted seconds.....wasted hours.....wasted days
Missed opportunities whisper.....no one listens
Birds bomb the earth every day
The baby’s diaper needs changing
Cats bury the evidence.....dogs don’t
Maybe we shouldn’t speak about this
Sleep drink eat.....waste is necessary
Suppose you could polish a turd
A piece of excrement now a vulgar term
The dictionary speaks.....no one listens
People will say.....I shit my pants
Someone somewhere begs.....for what.....mercy
Maybe there’s a reason we don’t talk about this
**
What Comes Next
These words want you to come in and sit. The difference between sitting on a bench and in a chair is what comes next.
To navigate without a map is to find the long way home. When you get back each thing is where you left it.
Toys in a playroom are happy when the lights go out. High speed cameras look into the hearts of those who drive by.
Under the skin hides the answer we have been looking for. The myth that a dog can find her way home curls into a ball and falls asleep.
Missed chances smile a crooked smile and leave. Thrones by the water invite the newlyweds to have their picture taken.
The neighborhood has come out to play. Face painting makes it seem as if later there will be sacrifices.
Nouns and verbs have built a city park. The fountains and sidewalks offer a reprieve no matter that it comes with mixed feelings.
**
return to sawbuck 4.4
**
Andrew Cox is the author of the book The Equation that Explains Everything (BlazeVOX press) and two chapbooks, Company X (www.wordvirtual.org) and Fortune Cookies, (www.2River.org). He lives in University City, Missouri, the Brooklyn of St. Louis.
Labels: 4.4, andrew cox, winter 2010/2011
