Some words are tasteless The dog accepts no treats from “Obama” There’s no 13th floor because their God is a prolongation of ego Founder of the little-known group known as “The Family” Only turned up as “solid” in the denial column What are you saying, Bob? You are breeding from the lower side of the curve Something American, Canadian, or viscous How would you like to have a magic mirror? Joan Retallack begins with geometries of attention The class of mediocres has the right to an epaulette of red wool I am the swift uplifting rush that happens once duration enters The turtles speak to my bele chose In order to distinguish the pictorial object from a readymade Each participant reads their Behavioral Self-Portrait aloud This is not to say that people with accents are haters, of course SOME PARTS HAVE BEEN LEFT OUT, AS YOU SEE (pointing) My body is on the chair. I don’t shave my legs. 1 is already a stand-in for 0 This is a real-time engagement with form I will never stop praising my Lord for this prosthetic You’re branded by the objects you love Everyone has one special sensation A Neighbor is the one who by definition smells Kyle, you have to keep making your macaroni pictures
‘This isn’t Whitman’s country anymore’ (390.586). New York City, 2008. R. Kolewe
‘American Picture’ was the last official poem written for The Tolerance Project, the first collaborative MFA in Creative Writing ever. ‘American Picture’ contains poetic DNA traces from several Tolerance Project donors: Rob Read, Jules Boykoff, Abigail Child, Joel Bettridge, Laura Elrick, Anna Moschovakis, Kevin Killian, Sarah Dowling, Bob Perelman, Susan Schultz, and the Office of Institutional Research. ‘American Picture’ is also a response to the photo, ‘This isn’t Whitman’s country anymore,’ as commissioned by photographer Ralph Kolewe for his InfluencySalon.ca section, Frames.
