Hammer Time.

Textual Reference for the above.


Cram vegetation

teeth the hard parts
buck to meal grind.

Not you; this silhouette.

Cut out now
(here is where
Fat Boy Slim
probably mentions
a black man).


Wanting very much to feel.

Wanting very much to crawl through a glass maze
the size of how big it is when you crawl.

On a bluescreen
(here where Pinback
adds ambiance).


I am not sure what this is a metaphor for or
if it is a metaphor at all or
just something I made up.
(Can Mickey Cesar read these lines please?)

Wanting very much to wonder whether
anything we just say
shouldn't just be a metaphor for something,
but never asking.


From now on
I will only use nouns that you can
jab a finger into.

Which means no more "nouns."

Starting now.
(Is "now" a noun?
Isn't "three o'clock" one?)


A hammer dents my chest.
The hammer hurts my chest.

Starting now I will not use verbs that are vague.
This makes me a better person.

The hammer hit my chest like a hammer hitting my chest.

This engages the reader.
I am telling the reader what it feels like
when a hammer hits a chest
my chest
the chest that I own.

Now, my readers can imagine what it feels like.
By it I mean hammer;
no more vague pronouns.


My readers are not dumb.
(underlying cultural assumption
that author makes about his rhetorical context)
My readers know that a hammer hitting me in the chest
feels like a hammer hitting them in the chest
and I have no need anymore for vague verbs
like "hurt."

Collective chest, I want to say to my readers,
but do not have to say this to them.
My readers know.

My readers are imaginative people.
(underlying cultural assumption
that author makes after assessing
the rhetorical situation)

My readers are wondering why I am writing this poem.
My readers expect more, maybe. Maybe
they see this as a metaphor for bad poetry.

(Meth-a-phor.)

All of these are underlying assumptions
that I make about my audience.


This writing is a metaphor for my consciousness.