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jarret keene
the son of a tampa firefighter, jarret keene was born in 1973.
his debut collection of poems, monster fashion, is forthcoming
from manic d press. he is a professor at university of nevada-las
vegas.
Works on this page:
(more incantations for the death angel) - eastern rectangle
(p-block)
requiem for carbon-based life-forms (lyrics & guitar tab)
ladder to zero
shut up in a furnace
saint oxygen novena
(more incantations for the death angel)
Eastern Rectangle (p-block)
1. losses to stockholders ruin
2. to merchants while slaves
3. whore themselves against the wheel
4. sun is a sharp implement
5. desert gets everything
6. it ever wanted it got pyramids
7. & pharaoh sang in his high voice
8. of human indignity long before
9. a carpenter's rampage
Requiem for Carbon-Based Life-Forms (lyrics & guitar
tab)
Ladder to Zero
Shut Up In a Furnace
unrecognizable fragments of humanity
on Mammon's altar wedged together
dead-locked stream of melted lead
pouring into faces withering eyeballs
half-hour later we expire
screaming like infant emperors
exploding from our coffins
as fire tears through God's charnel-house
King Aeolus puffing gigantic bellows
cyclopean furnace women came
as they had escaped from death
in fluttering nightclothes blown about
by surly autumn wind & lee of dark tombstones
bare arms blue & pinched tinsel flowers
in their hair shining with frost
it was strange to hear them
cheating silent misery with songs
tomb vibrating deep-toned psalms
when at last door was pried open all but one
speechless boy had fallen in stifling sorrow
somebody should have revived him
Saint Oxygen Novena
St. Oxygen, detective of blown-apart churches,
.....listen to our prayer!
St. Oxygen, who rested a bald Christmas tree
.....against the basin of holy water,
.....listen to our prayer!
St. Oxygen, who was present at the Last Supper,
.....and consumed a dented tin of Spam,
.....listen to our prayer!
St. Oxygen, who muttered to himself about
.....invisible robots, listen to our prayer!
St. Oxygen, who grabbed a bible and began
.....ripping pages for toilet paper,
.....listen to our prayer!
St. Oxygen, who practiced yodeling until people
.....told him to shut up,
.....listen to our prayer!
St. Oxygen, asleep in the charred and splintered
.....pew, cigarette dangling from his lips,
.....listen to our prayer!
St. Oxygen, who worked many wonders through
.....the power of a drip bag hanging above
.....his saintly arm, listen to our prayer!
St. Oxygen, patron of shirtless dogfaces,
.....listen to our prayer!
St. Oxygen, intercessor for candlelit altars framed
.....with red curtains, listen to our prayer!
St. Oxygen, consoler of loveless planets,
.....listen to our prayer!
That all people, regardless of race, creed or personal
.....differences may sing like Marlene Dietrich,
.....St. Oxygen, intercede for us!
That God will grant eternal rest to our departed relatives
.....and allow them to stare at the stars through a hole
.....in the ceiling, St. Oxygen, intercede for us!
That the show come to an end, the pulpit empty, and our
.....gauze-wrapped heads adorned with halos,
.....St. Oxygen, intercede for us!
That we all may be buried in shimmering blue dresses,
.....St. Oxygen, intercede for us!
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