Mark Flanigan: Minute Poems

8/14/2019 Mark Flanigan: Minute Poems

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Mark Flanigan Minute Poems

Number five in a series of unique e -books made available by Three Fools Press / semantikon.com Cover Artwork by Alan Sauer

Copyright 1990-2007 Mark Flanigan/Alan Sauer/semantikon.com/Three Fools Press


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Copyright 1990-2007Mark Flanigan/Alan Sauer/ semantikon.com/Three Fools Press.

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Even though a poem be a thousand, but made up of senseless words, one word of a poem is better, which if aman hears, he becomes quiet.

-- The Dhammapada


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Why Im Starving 4How To Hide Your Confusion And Call It Art 5The Night Tom Brokaw Summed It All Up 6

Boo Fucking Hoo 7Sylvia, I Tried 8Why Do Sensitive Boys Drop Acid? 9Go On, Refute Me 10At The Strip Club 11Pretty Sky, Dirty Mirror 12A Lesson In Juxtaposition And Irony 13Wish I Knew Loneliness Now 15Ezekiel Was Traded For A Player To Be Named Later 16You Wish 17Exactly 18

Aundr, Are You Mad? 19Got You Again 20Had To Hide This One 21Lies Look Good On Paper 22The Purveyors Of Night 23Dances With Wolves: The Poem 24They Cant Afford Me 26That Was Easy 27Id Rather Just Go Out The Window 28Portrait Of The Artist As An Ass 29What Was Your Name Again? 30

In Defense Of Never Getting Out Of Bed 31It Was Good While It Lasted, Been Better Ever Since 32Cliff Notes To An Independent Film 33You Know What I Mean 34I Want To Pick My Biographer 35Box 1281 37Bon Jovi Didnt Die For Me 38Exercising It Diligently 39Good Thing Im Popular In Madagascar 40Didnt Someone Else Say It Better? 47Quietly Walking Out Of The Room 48

Prerequisite Epiphany Denoting End Of The Album 49


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Step 1. Boil water.


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Acknowledgments

I need nothingnow, never

have, and havingthis, youhave yet to harm me.

see: hereyou do not exist,

never have,if only because I have lied

beautifully.

4


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I Got This On Good Authority

live every day likeyou got cancer

cause you probably do.

5


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Enlightenment At The Buddhist Temple

nine Buddhist monks dead.

the newsmansaysnothing was taken,

nor were thereany signsof astruggle.

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Codeine Dream

I feel nothingbut the pain.

7


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Life-Story

isnt it enoughto knowI used to be optimisticonce,I used to think

every morningbrought with itabsolutiona new beginningan unforeseeable end;but nowIm just waitingto die,viewing second-run filmsculled from my only memories,memories marred

by the imperfect, morning sun.

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More From The Living Dead

the human body can sleepindefinitely.

look at all the proof.

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all the faces

looking for oneI dont recognize

impossiblein a painting

this familiar

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In A Blue Mirror

some morningseverything seems so clear.

these are the most frightening.

12


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An Explanation

there isnt muchhappinesscontainedin these lines

so Id liketo assureyouthat there are times,like this,after a waveof somethinghas just warmed me over,that I feel quitecontent.

its just thatcontentmentseems sodangerousright now.

13


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Step 2. Open baggy. Empty contents.


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Friday Night, Bus Stop

silk underwear

lying at my feetupon the sidewalk like a puddle

how is it you came to be here?who is your neglectful master?

can I buy you a drink?

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My New Roommate Offers Me A Hundred Bucks For Rent

do me a favor:

dont burn the place down andwell call it even.

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Marijuana Poem #3

now, wherewas I?

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The Healing Meditation

for Aundr

a can of chiliin a dying ocean-side fire

not a soulfor tens of miles

so we may now listento our own

rolling lazilyagainst these rocks

which shall one daybecome grains of sand.

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While Were Looking Away

I just thoughtyou mightuse thisas your nextdiversion.

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Dogs

shes teaching my dogtricks

causethats all she knows.

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A Poem While Waiting

I turn off the lightand pull tight the covers,

hopeful my comfort mightquicken her return.

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The Night Watchmen

only we are awareof that murmur in the distance;only our thin, blue handsrestupon the cover

of that old- leather scroll;only we, with the sunat our back, are pale as Nosferatu,yet far from beingone of the dead.

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They Were Just Playing Our Song

I didnt realizethat the music had ceasedand so I continued to dance,my arm outstretchedand strangely empty.

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Letter To The Editors Of The American Poetry Review

just a word or two about myself:Im eating a cheese sandwich.

26


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Apostrophe

I could speak of my concernsbut that would be betraying myself.

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In Museums My Favorite Works Are Those That Move

surrounded by Monets liliesa sea of calmand a silly mantra,so many fish in the seaso many fish in the sea

so many fish in the sea....

but then a small woman passes by.

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Autobiography, Epilogue Included

I dont care whyI dont care.

30


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Here

you can travel all your lifeand still never get

to where you are.

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Unsuspected Phone-Sex Poem

time fliesin accord with

the hearts pace. and afterwe have laid it on the line,

then hung it up,

I sit back, wipe awaywhat remains;

smoke then,a cigarette in waiting

to be reconnected.

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Cross-Country Car Poem

popping pillslike theres no tomorrow,

and why?

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Untitled

whisper to a stoneyour strength and

suddenly

your shouldersare heavy

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What Happens When Friends Try To Quote You

tell a friend your burdenandcarry the rock?

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Personal Ad

Ill do anythingonce,and everything twice.

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Not A Pop Song Poem

dying for someoneor somethingis the easyexit.

we wont even mentionthe otherpossibility.

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The Revolution Is Complete

now weve all earnedthe rightto be assholes.

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Amerikoans

short cuts to a crucifiction

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you mean to tell meif there werent a pictureof a woman eating shit sellinglike hotcakeson every corner of townthat you wouldnt buy one too?

prove it.

I walked on water before he did.I am America.

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the gig is up.

high court the one most watched and thats a talk show.

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the last now first.

you dont deserve me.

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excuse me but I have to do my laundry.

now.

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I had it all figured out.

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but then woke up.

couldnt find a working pen for the life in me....

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A Note On The Author: M. Flanigan

for Lance

the fucker just makestoo few appearances.

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And To Think All That Time I Thought My Heart Here

sittin wonderingif the perfect momentsbeen pissed on

when all the while

the moments beenmepissing.

49


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Step 5. Order a goddamn pizza.


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About Mark Flanigan Writer/performer Mark Flanigan, a Cincinnati native, has been publishing for more than a decade. His columnExiled on Main Street appearing first in X-ray and later online at semantikon.com, he is also well known forhis live performances in places as varied as the Northside Tavern and CAC, the latter for the 2005 CincinnatiFringe Festival. Marks column, Exiled from Main Street, now appears monthly at semantikon.com, while healso continues to record his first album with musician Steven Proctor. His collection, Not Necessarily GodStories, is presently available at oneleggedcowpress.org.


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Mark Flanigan: Minute Poems

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