from +’s forthcoming debut book of poetry tome, new chapbook change out now

‘hi, kids!

do u like violence?’

just kidding

we don’t do wrestling moves on other children

this isn’t WWE

where a joke leads to violence

unless The Slap disrupts the cycle

The Slap interrogates

The Slap asks the question

“what is art?”

“can you shoot a fair one?”

“are we done?”

The Slap is itself art

decorum, custom, culture, an expression of (in)dignity

a beginning, middle & end

If art is trying to be real life, if comedy demands its space on our timeline, tragedy must be suspended

It has to pass through you like oxygen itself and when it catches in your throat you must gasp HA
gasp HA it back

if you let it cripple you, you’re doing it wrong

don’t let yourself BECOME the joke

pobrecito…

it’s an isolated incident!

la comicidad cannot be used to demean, to belittle, to push someone out of the room, take away their opportunities, create spaces where others are more likely to be hostile when they see you, confrontational, encircle you, telling more jokes, more jokes, laughing louder and louder

it’ll never drown you out til you’re completely alone

because everyone is laughing at your problems
making art from it, that’s what they’re doing, it just art

it can’t hurt you

from a platform

if your very presence is a meme

you know what we do to memes

beat them to death!

The Slap is the end of violence.

the end of violence pretending to be art

the renewal of art

as a place to be free

(and rethink why are bodies our on; these revolving stages in the 1st place)