Aptos

Watching Sis put Preparation 8 under her eyes,

"it works on all swollen tissue, she says".

"This is not a good time for poems", she tells me.

Poems, I remind her, are not the journals

we kept the crumpled, hippo weights

to hold down yesterday's love notes.

Or the muestrame tus bragas

"show me your panties" clicks from those

strangers on TicToc. Nor shouts in a crowded

room when the diamond key sticks

on the Iphone 17 pro max. 

Poems are not the lifetime

penalty for not joining the prescription drug

plan in time. 

Poems are the lies, in real life,

that the witch took along to gouge out our eyes

on that night when Fred Hampton was

shot dead in his own bed. 

Poems are that!

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I think sometimes poems are capable of gouging eyes out, at least figuratively.
Poems might be the very love notes that hold themselves down.
Poems are the lies but they are also the truths of real life written in a way that imagines, hints, pauses and leaves us to figure out the puzzle of our own lives.
This poem really has me thinking. I have not read much of Saul Williams, David brought him up. But one of my favorites is Robert Creeley and he is also really good at writing conversational poems.
I think I might have a lifetime penalty of having to write poems. They just keep coming to me and I have to write them down. NO choice....I am and always will be more a conduit than a real poet.
j.

[h d e rushin]

Naomi Madgett would always say, "I see things throughout the day, and since I always see things, I write them down". I feel the spontaneity in every poem you write. Like the hand knows what the subconscious is thinking; Like the meadow knows what flowers to cuddle with, perhaps. But thanks for those kind words. Forever, dana.

[Tom27]

That’s biting and brilliant — a raw, unfiltered reckoning with what poetry isn’t until it snaps and shows what it truly is. There’s a weary intelligence in it, a kind of street-level philosophy that refuses sentimentality. It feels like protest wearing the mask of observation — cynical, lucid, and deeply alive.

[Travis Gibson (poetic h..]

That lead up to the closing was as good of a set up as I've ever seen... it holds your hand just enough to lead you to the punch to the gut! "Poems are the lies..." I interpret it as they are the distraction. Which they absolutely can be. We give them life and identity. A reason I love and respect an intentional writer. Great piece!

[redzone]

I think the real lies, the real love poems are the ones that speak truth to power. The ones that throws reality in your face and dares you to deny it. They are the poems about Fred Hampton, Huey Newton, Emmitt Till, Malcolm X, and the many other freedom fighters who tried to make our lives better, more humane. These are the poems that bring us alive and define us as human. Dana, I think the poems you write "gouge out our eyes" with a "lifetime" of "love notes" and keeping it real!

-Curt

[h d e rushin]

I was reading your "love Sonnets" this morning, and it is true what the masters said about poetry. That at the heart of all poems is a love poem, wherever the story takes us. But when your hero's are my hero's the truth of poetry becomes more salient. Thanks for your words, my friend. dana

[redzone]

Good morning Dana. If I remember correctly it was Huey that once said, (paraphrase) "you can't be a revolutionary without a deep love for the people." I think this is very true. I am writing these 'Love Sonnets', yes as a way to honor Pablo Neruda, but even more so because in todays world, with fascism on the rise, honest, decent people need HOPE! Hope that the world can be better, more humane. My desire is that these 'love sonnets' will help to give people some of that HOPE! The people are the real heroes, the makers of history, as Mao said. Yes we need leaders, and the BPP was our leadership back in the day, but today, the leader I follow is Bob Avakian and the RCP. There is great love for the people and real HOPE that it is possible to bring into being that better world. We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us.

Dana, you honor me with your comment above. Even more you honor all of us with your poetry, your "words", it reflects your deep love for the people at its core.

[RomaJ]

This poem feels raw and deeply introspective, like a moment of truth spoken without pretense.

I really appreciate how you redefine what poetry means to you--stripped of polish, rooted in lived experience, and unapologetically real.

I might see poetry a little differently, since I think each writer finds meaning through their own lens, but I love how authentically you capture your truth here.

It’s thought-provoking and quietly powerful piece.

[h d e rushin]

it is (poetry) stripped of polish. That is, if polish is pretense. Oscar Wild said that even bad poetry is sincere". Thanks for those kind words, Roma.

[Davidgeo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXzK0AFpmcI

[Davidgeo]

Are you a fan of Saul Williams by any chance? He ended up kind of disappointing me but he had/has this kind of ability to make poetry into a rhythmic conversational thing. I love that guy even though, he's kind of cunty. He's had a very real influence on how I write some of my best poetry. This poem of yours, it smells like us.

[h d e rushin]

thinking that I should do my homework on Saul Williams, who I am not familiar with. But I like the idea of conversation since we've gotten so far away from it as a species. thanks Davigeo.

[Davidgeo]

Talking about Saul Williams is always my pleasure. Unless I'm talking to Saul Williams... that son of a b***h

[Davidgeo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keqAQk1YuOs&list=RDkeqAQk1YuOs&start_radio=1