The Head DMT Office

by Shawn Misener

My body is nothing but a soul tentacle,
a molecule factory/receptacle

a squishy love sponge,
an organic thought antennae

a congealed sea of emotion
the blood highway
the blood information superhighway

always with something to say
something to do
something to be done to

moving through space
flickering
OFF/ ON

OFF,

ON:

from inside the skull
through the smoke
through the screen
through the smokescreen of experience/ media
through the baby monitor,

the sound of a plug-in rocker
through ringing ears,
the crash of distant heavy machinery

Mr. Pineal would like to say hello
from the HEAD DMT OFFICE

the note:

congratulations man
you made it up 'till now
where to next?

Ah, Mr. Pineal
the smiling butler of consciousness
the holder of the raunchy raw truth,
the Death Teardrop

where to next?

The Misguided Itch

by Shawn Misener

Searching for fingernail clippers
and chewing gum
the lost poet weaves across this
empty sidewalk in the dawn's piss
thinking aloud to the streetlamps
and the weeds pushing through
the cracks, “writing is no good,
it's like I'm scratching my arm
when in fact it's my ass that itches”

He makes his way up a cement hill
scouring his pockets for change
and realizing he has enough for coffee,
which most definitely will do for now

The Words

by Shawn Misener

When there are words going constantly
they start to feel worn we are
bludgeoned with them on the TV
and radio by the crowd comment
streams in our heads

So when we start to write
it feels like scaling dead trout
or grabbing at clouds or making love
to dirt or emitting one long continuous
groan that never ends but scales back
into infinity where it bounces off
the eternal cervix and comes back
as reckless garbling and surreal
poetic nonsense

Oh bless me Calliope
and excuse me for your belch
that I take credit for and one day
hope to feed my children with

Magic Plastic Glitter and Chocolate

by Shawn Misener

I want you to take a shiny
platinum credit card from your wallet

hold it between your thumb
and your pointer finger

then make it disappear

*

It's not so hard
since when you turn the plastic gem
on it's side it becomes so thin
as to virtually not be there at all

there may be ten thousand dollars
floating mystically inside the injection molding
but it doesn't really exist

*

So look at the thin side of the card:
the angle where in the right beam of sunshine
the platinum vanishes

now blow at that empty space between your fingers
like extinguishing a birthday cake

watch:

first out is the glitter,
the kind you find at party supply stores
a silver cloud whirling to your lawn

then come the rusty pennies
the fruit flavored thongs
the white pickets
the weed killer
the vitamin water
and the chocolate communion wafers

and finally your spouse emerges
holding a thin sheet of paper
indicating interest payments you can't make

If you're scared
just turn your hand and watch the card
magically become something like real again.