Chicago -
By J.J. Tindall
BARSHOMBA AND THE GREEN BUNNY
“Yeah, man,” Mr. DeFourneaux began,
“Me and Barshomba had
the One Love Peace
Band.
You heard of the Chitlin’
Circuit? South Side, you know,
Bonanza, Peppers,
Rock, Castle Rock,
Checkmate, the Green Bunny?
77th and Halsted in the
early ’70s. South Side,
you know: Sam Cooke,
Herbie Hancock, Ramsay
Lewis, Minnie Riperton.
Barshomba had dreads
down to his ass, you know.
You heard of
Posted on July 24, 2008
By J.J. Tindall
BEACHWOOD HAMLET
What a rogue and peasant slave am I!
Too-literate malcontent, recorder of deeds:
The laws’ delay, the insolence of office.
Yep: sorrows come in battalions, fellas.
Platoons of knave clowns, festooned with
Uncles, o’erwatched my Chinamen. Who now
Posted on July 21, 2008
By J.J. Tindall
This was written on August 25, 2007, but never posted. The opportunity has arisen this week to correct that oversight.
ODE TO AMY JACOBSON
I was so
psyched
that you
were on that
story.
I could tell,
like me,
you could smell
it on
the Prick.
Posted on July 10, 2008
By J.J. Tindall
TRUMP’S NEW ERECTION
Blue. Perfect!
Large blue base,
tapering to a phallic
point, “can it be
taller than the
BIGGEST, the SEARS
Tower? Please, fellas?”
I get it: Skyscrapers,
like a Saturn Five
Rocket,
all look
like a huge prick.
Posted on July 9, 2008
By J.J. Tindall
REGULATED MILITIA WELL
after William Carlos Williams
A well regulated Militia,
being necessary
to the security of a free State,
the right of the people
to keep and bear Arms,
shall not be infringed.
A WELL REGULATED MILITIA BEING NECESSARY
WELL REGULATED MILITIA WELL REGULATED
MILITIA
being necessary
Posted on July 7, 2008
By J.J. Tindall
BLACK DOG IN LITTLE HELL
PLEASE God
NOT TODAY: I have to
work! My self-esteem
went to bed in Lincoln Park
and awoke in
Goose Island, Old
Little Hell.
Black Dog
Posted on June 10, 2008
By J.J. Tindall
I KNOW I AM ABOUT TO BE LOOKING GOOD
People: dig
me.
Farmer’s Tan
approaching August
Apex, I’m thinking late
next week.
I fucked up
a self-haircut
Posted on June 5, 2008
By J.J. Tindall
DIVISION STREET: TWO AMERICAS
This side the dark and hollow bound
lies there no unexplored ground?
1986: Ashland to Western,
Freedom Fighter Promenade.
Poets, musicians, crack whores and junkies,
teachers and tradesmen smarting from the
Clampdown, finding communion.
Fighting to be free,
freedom of EXPRESSION, freedom from
OPPRESSION.
Posted on May 21, 2008
By J.J. Tindall
MY SILVER SOUL THE SEA
My soul the sea: sucking
my mind from my skull
like a clam
from its shell, draining
my sweet, slow
juice.
Sitting in the rain
at the Planetarium. Falling from the sky:
the saltless sea. On the left, a festival
of architecture, organic sculpture
alight. Mist aglow, the sky giving its ritual
Spring performance, mirrored
in the torguoise sea. Teal, taupe, agate, shale…
Gods of Gitchigumi blowing
in my ear. Chaos: the dynamo hum
of the neighborhoods a distant sea-shell aria.
Even Olympian ghosts now loom.
Posted on May 5, 2008
By J.J. Tindall
ELEGY FOR WHITE POWER
God favors us
who grieve,
for we have
loved.
Twelve angry men,
losing their cool:
Posted on May 1, 2008
