The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Poem Thread, 8/9/07 Bonus (Jim Simmerman)

[BlueIris]

I love this bizarre little poem, which the creative writing teachers never tire of telling there students was published in the mighty Poetry magazine. I just found out that its author, Jim Simmerman, died recently at the age of 54, so I thought I should put it up here, posthaste.

"Moon Go Away, I Don’t Love You No More"

Morning comes on like a wink in the dark.
It's me it's winking at.
Mock light lolls in the boughs of the pines.
Dead air numbs my hands.
A bluejay jabbers like nobody’s business.
Woodsmoke comes spelunking my nostrils
and tastes like burned toast where it rests on my tongue.
Morning tastes the way a rock felt
kissing me on the eye:
a kiss thrown by Randy Shellhouse
on the Jacksonville, Arkansas Little League field
because we were that bored in 1965.
We weren't that bored in 1965.
Dogs ran amuck in the yards of the poor,
and music spilled out of every window
though none of us could dance.
None of us could do the Frug, the Dirty Dog
Because we were small and wore small hats.
Moon go away, I don't love you no more
was the only song we knew by heart.
The dull crayons of sex and meanness
scribbled all over our thoughts.
We were about as happy as headstones.
We fell through the sidewalk
and changed color at night.
Little Darry was there to scuff through it all,
so that today, tomorrow, the day after that
he will walk backward among the orphaned trees
and toy rocks that lead him
nowhere I could ever track,
till he's so far away, so lost
I'll have to forget him to know where he's gone.
la grave poullet de soir est toujours avec moi—
even as the sky opens for business,
even as shadows kick off their shoes,
even as this torrent of clean morning light
comes flooding down and over it all.

—Jim Simmerman

[Dragonbreathp9d]

1. awesome poem!

thanx BlueIris! :hi:

[BlueIris]

2. Thanks. I posted it when I was super-tired.

Hence, the typos.

Blech.

[BlueIris]

3. Kick.

[I Have A Dream]

4. RIP, Jim.

Thank you for honoring him by posting this, BI.

[Inchworm]

5. Love it!

:thumbsup:

:hi:

[ismnotwasm]

6. Cool

I love poetry, the ones you've been posting always bring up some memory with me. It's pretty neat. (Sometimes bittersweet------a poet I'm NOT)

[BlueIris]

7. Kick.

[BlueIris]

8. Alright, who keeps recommending these?

You flatter me, and these poets.

[Bombtrack]

9. Blue Iris from the Howard Stern Show?

you know there's a wack packer named Blue Iris who's known for being a senior citizen porn starlet.