Profugus

O Parthenon
upon this base
an aggregate place

of fancy fiberglass Athena
The doors of 615 Church too
bear the Mark of the Possum
and Leach the weary road from
our stories

the weary road is no longer in our stories
as it has been leached from our stories

the weary road is made of the space
behind the statue of Demonbreun
strewn with trash and alabaster
skins turned sooty and grody

A Man rolls down the hill
in Richland Park
as
his children walk to school

and Mount Vernon's dreams
of familial peace
threw out the baby
and the claw-tub bath

and footsteps away a place
where likeable racists gathered (profugus)
this city is full of dominators of mind
in kind, in like, in love

I wonder why the sky's above
my gentle dome
my turnip head
my sleepy wonder
my steak and bread

L and C light red and green
as the world's largest
adult bookstore
changed management

my dog, my dougie why have you gone
my dog, my dougie our work's not done

to liberate the feet of teens
to scream and dream and preen our wings

to mousse the shabby head of man
and lead to water a fluffy lamb

my dog my dougie you'll always be
my numero uno,
my willow tree

and in the shrine of Dude Let Up
you'll always be my TN hero
my Jubilee

BENT

I smell the under ground tubes

of the city

and my time in this cubicle
is drawing nigh

and my time with this esoteric

set of facts

is not long

Eulogy for Ben Todd

Hello. My name is Whit Smith and I was a good friend of Ben Todd’s, as were a great number of you, and it is with great sadness and frustration that I address you today. We’re gathered here to celebrate and reflect upon the life of Benjamin David Todd, who was surely a gift from God to you, me, Nashville, Tennessee, the United States of America, and the World. Some of you have known Ben since before he was born, some of you only in recent years, months, or days. Some of you may have never met Ben, but were compelled to memorialize him because you knew his magnanimity, his larger than life persona, and were moved by the Zeitgeist he helped to conjure and sustain. Among the bristling creation of God, a great many are bound by locality, while some others are freed by the history and heritage of a place, and are then able to help others unbind themselves. Ben Todd was among the latter, a great emancipator of sorts. He welcomed and encouraged all: freaks, outcasts, punks, hippies, weirdos, kids, junkies, the hopeful, the hopeless, artists, shams, posers, winners, and losers. And he chose his hometown as his home base, at times opened his home to these friends and strangers and actualized a movement and environment that fostered the arts for all. And how Christ-like of him. And I don’t mean in a Ginsburg sort of way. Really, but with whom did Christ consort? Christ stuck around the general vicinity of his tiny portion of the Roman Empire and surrounded himself with and LOVED the despised, the half-way-there, the unclean, the confused, the weirdos, the punks, the freaks, the thieves, the prostitutes, the murderers, and the down-and-out. And like Christ, Ben started a movement and recognized that like himself, the freaks of the world are the most capable of good. Y’all know that now-cliché Kerouac quote about the insatiable ones? Well, that was him. And that is us: insatiable. And he knew it. Ben had a transformative power. He could turn a frown upside down. He could turn a mood inside out. He could literally turn a venue inside out. He could smite the weaktalk and bolster the courage. He could prod a band to greatness, splash water in the face of a sleeping community, and make magic happen.

Christ said “let the children come to me.” Ben did too. How many all-ages events did Ben create? And how rare is it in an age of pretense that a man should open up “serious art” to kiddos? Ben luv the keeds. I have so many stories that illustrate the person who Ben was, but that’s for later.

Ben was a rare bird in this freaky world. I am forever grateful that I have known Ben Todd, been apart of the special world of Ben, and to have made so many friends through Ben. I’m saddened that he’s gone, and I’m more saddened that he chose to leave. I don’t understand or condone his decision, but I do understand that God is good, and brings good from the darkest of times. So, pray, meditate, bang your head, and carry on the tradition that Ben so firmly planted; that of a father of a movement, of a natural son of the world, and of a spirit of the community. May we champion the freaky-deaky, champion the fun, champion the good. Goodbye Ben; we’ll always miss you and we pray that we stay forever young.

Gojjer

Where the gojj things are
Sweet nothing's in my ear
A bleary Bon Jovi
In the brightest lit
Lot
A pillar of soda
Encamping upon a Trojan shore
A man is made of luck and lore
Self generative,
Intact,
Snore!

Total babes immersed
In gore
Boner bash in '94

Monarchism

How caramelled this apple
of late has been,
bit
and the monarchy of my mind
is usurped by powers of some
other magna carta

my darkest day is filled with
light
shedding the old fallacy
of a triphop drug addled
baby boy of corduroy

the flap of flags is all I hear
on the isle of Whit
a gleaming tear
a patriotic snear
a Tridentine Mass
neither here
nor here

Superior Elvis

As I race toward New Madrid,
the conifers drop sweetly
a gift to squirrels and other pearls
and gems of God's golden twitching

the still of the night in Dyersburg
a time honored tradition
of cool cars, cooler women
and food finger licking

the split that ran the river back
into a shallow place
across Tiptonville's track
of currency in faded jeans

A cottony caravan of His
story
West Tennessee, West Tennessee,

I bleat and bow and beg to thee:
Find a rood and find a staff
And help me grow tall and strong: giraffe
My daughter's out in Halls tonight

A tumbleweed of megafright
And like and duh and of coarse greetings
"Does this give you New York Times
Tinglings?"

Hoi Pollock

Hoi pollock
a Jansport bag strap
undone in Dover
forward in time
(future tense)
encapsulate
words
in time we'll be better
one step at a time
(presently)
gracias mis amigos
por favor, tu eres ustedes major
minotoros
quando, tu cumpleanos equals?

man, stop

woman, go

my cousin worked for a cheesery
they said he was a real cheese wizard