Free Multitudes by Margaret Christakos Page A

voice i couldn’t do b4 because it’s not clear 2 me y i should feel any differently n bsides i paid 4 this with my own money i earned it ergo it’s mine / there’s some consistency u just want 2 watch out 4 if u r th bad friend so much harder than comfortable n dripping abt th
     waistline since anyone over 18 has th option of a buy-back plan / put those words out there n i’m not responsible 4
     their blank lotto tickets n vandalized subway stations / simple statements like a hangover
     jog up an offseason boardwalk or like th stench of lilies around easter yecchh chisel my patience / th point was impropriety – urs – being kissed at dusk n
     loving it so th junkie downstairs cd hear everything that was messy n inarticulate
     regarding major plans 4 th webcam / th other thing u need 2 know right abt now is that i
     might b extricating myself from this collapsing resto deal as a person has 2 stay in th
     clear n narrow of their own generational aspirations / a person has only those near around
     him 2 care 4 when it comes right down 2 that last commuter train 2 th end of th line
     that crosses over its own shortcut
    i hope i’m not unmaking myself invisible!
    i hope i’m erasing what u liked abt me because it’s suffocating 2 b tender n in ur fat spot with e-readers you’ve propagated across th sunrise in a whole other time zone
in a whole other time zone
when rates r lowest n several custodians here r eating canned macaroni that’s seriously putrid / there’s abt 15 minor phonetical conjunctions i might lift n resuscitate in an entirely gutted
     soho gallery space but have 2 say there’s a lot on my mind that u can’t necessarily hear me thinking – u just have 2 trust me on that one like u just have 2 trust my sense of timing n my pretty excellent
    boundaries

SONG OF THAT POET

    That poet
    That poet was not
    That poet was not an emperor
    That poet was not an emperor wearing
    That poet
    That poet was wearing something
    That poet was not an emperor wearing nothing
    That poet was trying 2 get something
    That poet had a line n some hoopla
    Had th voice of a generalist n dungarees on his knees
    That poet had a beat
    A streetbeat
    That poet had eyes like beads
    Like little black beads
    That poet was wearing a few sequins
    That poet was clothed in
    That poet was a frequent poet
    That poet used 2 b John Barlow
    That poet used 2 stop himself in th middle of a long line n giggle
    That poet knew what was a longing line n what was a place to stop it
    He could quench it
    That poet was not an emperor
    That poet was plum naked
    That poet knew nothing useful n everything else
    That poet had his clothes on all right
    That poet was tightrope-teetering on2 his next languorous lingo
    That poet was crossing all sorts of giddy ponderings
    When’s th last time u heard him
    That poet
    That poet was no emperor
    That poet John Barlow.

    I remember back in th day
    I remember back in th Walt vault
    Who do we have 2 subpeona 2 get John Barlow back onstage
    Who do we need on our panel
    What poet knows th poet who knows John Barlow
    What poet
    What’s th point of that poet
    What do u get out of th way when u get that poet
    What do u want 2 get from me here, right now
    What song
    What old saw
    What cool hula trickery with th alphabet
    Tell me what u want
    Tell me when u want it, people
    I am not an emperor
    I am wearing my dungarees
    I am ready to workshop
    I am here so plum
    So naked n jiggling

CITY HALL (TORONTO) 2012
    for Jack Layton
    1
    Almost
    nobody wants it
    t/here now. Expanse or courtyard, field encased
    concrete, flattened plain perfect 4 crowd control.

    Array th horses eh.

    Riot lines enter westward. Lasers’ aim, crosscutting vulnerable
    capital. Th Moore. Th arcs. Hoses could pump foam, fell
    leather uppers. Martial snipers let’s face it would
    have an absolute field day.       Encircle
    n stride.                                       Traverse.
    Everybody gets de-authoritative. Entire