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The Exquisite Corpse - A Journal of Letters and Life
Edited by Andrei Codrescu
ec chair poetick kultur anti-amthropomorphism
gallery zounds the making and unmaking of person
new economics of late capitalism
diaries and memoirs translation and her retinue
working class sweat
the corpse reads classics letters the book of revelations and epiphanies
the making and unmaking of person
The New Economics of Late Capitalism

Oh, Yeah
by Sheila Raeschild

I've got them again, the dreads,
the "why did I fuck up my life
middle of the night" sweats.

I haven't stopped taking my meds,
but I've started buying things I don't need
like the Bose Acoustical Wave Sound
System advertised on TV as the world's
best and a dozen or two dozen books
to add to the stack I bought last week
and haven't read because my mind is whacked.

I start one but after a page or two
I remember the list of things I meant to do
and put it down to go find the list
and brood over what I haven't done
which includes reading that book.

And the high-tech angel food cake pan
that I also saw on TV which goes
straight from freezer to oven
though I've never made an angel food cake
but I always wanted to so someday I might
since now at least I have the pan.

And the old magic mind is back
like thinking I can make the refrigerator quiet
by thinking I can make the refrigerator quiet.
And I've started up talking to strangers again
telling them more than they need to know
(or want to) about who I am (as if I knew).

I'm cluttered with random lines
from books on meditation
from books on writing
from novels on murderers.
So it seems in order to meditate
I must first become a murderer
and to write I must first fall in love.

Though I've read the biochemical explanation
about this not-at-all unique condition
I'm ashamed to be unable to transcend it.

I'm starting a new list
of ways I've messed up my life
with specific examples
and I'm going to buy a pack of smokes
though I gave that up long ago
but now I need them for company
as I sit by the window all night
waiting for the night visitor
or the murderer and murmuring
oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah.

 

 

 

home archives submit black market comrads hot sites search ec chair peotick kultur anti-amthropomorphism
new economics of late capitalism gallery zounds the making and unmaking of person
diaries and memoirs translation and her retinue
the book of revelations and epiphanies working class sweat
the making and unmaking of person the corpse reads classics letters

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