John C. Goodman
…Out! Out! Brief Candle
the sea is an abstraction
a muddy sketch of colour and form
what are you doing here?
“becoming a stranger to myself. –
[blue]
a mind of cinders and ash
“travelled a long road [I] [have]
from dungeon to grave
making landfall
that’s where danger dwells:
in the transition from one element to another
in the pounding of waves on insensate rocks
the rolling of breakers on dreams and shores and beaches and stories and histories and myths and desires and legends and tales and identities and vertebrae and longing and isolation and frustration and failure and hearts broken and darkness and death and wiggly worms in the sand
[RED]
“sought my deliverance [I?] [have?]
in the space between here and there
(there is no space
only spaciousness)
“meaning coated my shoulders like beads of mist **
( colour/text//colour///text////colour/////texture )
) of of of of of (
there’s no controlling the waves
they come as they please and go
sometimes tickly bubbly froth
sometimes heavy as moods
tossing boats like angry words
[grreeen]
there’s no control
it’s out of control!
[i*t’s !o}}u^t o&f c999((()))ontr++==ol!
)*&$@000##..(!)(!)(!)[!][!][!]
falling falling falling
the freedom of g;sallpo sprw;lthos
the many who went before
epp fof yjr ffrrf yjr esrtr yp;f
just the frop lurp
(orange)
there’s no stopping it
no stopping time
it keeps coming on like a bad mood
pushing us ever further into the abstraction
of future becoming present
of what never was becoming our reality
of w%oo00 @ast)))((( $Wpol…
to colour (vt): the state of being perceived
[I am colour][we are colour][they are colour]
that’s where danger lies
in the transition of moments
bringing the unexpected
into the border between past and future
the no man’s land of our existence
“Out of nothing I came, to nothing I will return.”
[yellow]
to nothing (vt): the state of remaining a victim of circumstance.
I am nothing [he is nothing] she is nothing [we are nothing]
they are nothing [there is nothing] nothing is nothing
“Oh set my sail for distant shores [I] [have]
the sea is a wide rough moment
between coastlines of the past
and wreckage of the future
[indigo]
[violet]
where one can be a stranger to oneself
and no one the wiser
Seven Sad Songs
I
/ \
II II
/ \
II II II II
/ \
II II II II II II II II
Estuaries of sound
resolve rivers
of meaning
into
rumours and innuendo
And now the news: “A raid on The Oxford Dictionary of the English Language earlier today resulted in the release of seven obscene verbs. The verbs had been held hostage by the dictionary for several years. Taken to a secret location for their own safety, the verbs are not yet available for general usage.”
I want more
I want more and more
I want more and more and more
I want more and more and more and more
I want more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and
The lip of the cup
A kiss waiting to happen
Motorcycles repeat their roar
Echoes in hollow nerves
A quiet pigeon
Breath on a candle flame
Candy wrapper on the lawn
Magnum on the officer’s hip
It is a blue
everything
all of it
blue ocean blue sky blue rocks blue mood blue music blue dog blue trees blue buildings blue garbage blue love blue gutters blue cars blue lampposts blue memories blue heat blue corpses blue sidewalks blue watches blue curtains blue hissy fit blue doors blue indifference blue railings blue horses blue fingers blue navigation blue rain blue drawers blue smiles blue veranda blue socks blue fences blue armadillos blue rockets blue interference blue hills blue departure blue you blue slowly transitioning to blue me violet me burnt umber me shadow me disappearing me absent me forgotten me
allthehandsthatfoldbeyondthegrave
hidetheirpettywisdominthefolds
oftheirshroudswhiletheywait
tobegatheredtothefoldby
theshepherdwhonevercomes
folds
floods
many are called by the sirens of commerce
but few ever get anywhere
buying CDs, chatting, watching TV, eating dinner, getting laid, shopping, getting married, having kids, taking vacations, watching TV, having dinner, getting divorced, getting a haircut, getting a performance review, getting involved, getting nowhere, getting laid off, watching TV, eating dinner, shopping, having a barbeque, talking, having kittens, getting some exercise, getting the shaft, getting screwed, getting a comeuppance, getting it on, talking, watching TV, eating, getting a haircut, taking off, taking a breather, taking what comes, taking a load off, taking it easy, talking, killing time, watching TV, eating dinner, killing
GRAVITY
hold me up, Gilligan, hold me up, Rin Tin Tin, hold me up, Maxwell Smart, hold me up, Roy Rogers, hold me up, Spin and Marty, hold me up, Superman, hold me up, Elliot Ness, hold me up, Abbot and Costello, hold me up, Wanda Hendrix, hold me up, Anne Baxter, hold me up, Cisco Kid, hold me up, Hopalong Cassidy, hold me up, Johnny Ringo, hold me up, Matt Dillon, hold me up, Sgt. Bilko, hold me up, Ed Norton, hold me up, Jed Clampett, hold me up, Outer Limits, hold me up, Humphrey Bogart, hold me up, Steve Reeves, hold me up, Burt Lancaster, hold me up, Robin Hood, hold me up, Frankenstein, hold me up, Curly Larry & Moe, hold me up, Buster Keaton, hold me up, Buster Keaton, hold me up, Buster Keaton, hold me up, Buster Keaton, hold me up, hold
The north star holds
its place in the heavens
all else spinning
and reeling
around the one still point
the hiss of tires on wet pavement
the view from tall buildings
letting the world roll by
trapped in a snarl of vowels
freed by a sibilant s
a consonant in motion
slicing through the tangle
shearing
The point of the stem
is cold with frost.
Broken ground heaved.
Thin green whispers of last year’s seeds
germinate in spring’s defiance.
An osprey wheeling
in a cloudless sky,
its shadow on the water.
The frozen weeds are living still,
their pulse thawing.
“My grandfather told me, ‘Don’t go near the well.’
I was five years old.
I went outside and fell straight down the well.”
Buttercups have twined the daisies,
bordered by columbine,
the hillside a stroke of lupines.
The forest is a weave of leaves,
green shadows.
Victim of Hope
chromium
chromiu,m
alter ego
alter ego
alter ego
alter my ego
alter your ego
altar of the ego
nails hold the wood
binding lathe to studs
(no one builds like that anymore,
mercuriu,m
“I don’t remember ripping the bandage off – when the bleeding started again – when I leaked into the future and the past – staining events with the rust of longing –
- what is the meaning of life
- what is the life of meaning
- the meaning of life is what
- the what of meaning is life
glass armadillos
creep through shattered halls
saving sturgeons and belugas
from mothballs of extrapolation
arseniu,m
“the blood of a song
“the blood of a song flows
“the blood of a song flows through
“the blood of a song flows through my
“the blood of a song flows through my veins
“I bleed music
cadmiu,m
- what is a meaning of life
- what makes life meaningful
- what makes life blood
- what is the meaning of blood
chromium yellow
chromium blue
chromium vermillion
chromium grey
staggered shadows in the mansions of self
know neither pity nor grief,
the colours of our blood mingle
with bitterness and joy
pulled by tides of incandescence
of song
Take it like it comes
megalithic monthstrosities
tall buildings : sheep in the rain
it don’ matter if your hair’s too short
it don’ matter if your friend’s a liar
it don’ matter if your car won’t start
it don’ matter if the shoe don’t fit, wear it anyway
it don’ matter it don’ maater it don’ mmateer [m](a)ttt/e//r…
“The way I see it, ya got two choices: you either in or you out…”
dead town
eyeless buildings lipless parks earless bars drunk sidewalks
dead as squashed bug
dead fire hydrants dead parked cars dead cats dead grass dead air dead dreams dead aspirations dead ambitions dead ends dead serpents dead overtures dead reconciliations dead mommas dead emotions dead dead dead de ad //[d]…e…((a))//[d]
what’s it all mean?
the overpasses the busses the getting from here to there the litter the noise the bustle the clanging and banging the music the car horns the litter the stoplights the dirty looks the indifference the suffering the vomit the windows the air conditioning the hot dog vendor on the corner
what’s the purpose?
the rich people hustling trying to get more working the angles ripping off whatever they can
the poor people hustling trying to get more working the angles ripping off whatever they can
getting by from day to day to day to day to //[d] (think about it) [a] [;;] (((y))) – [think about it again))))
what’s going on?
i bin lied to jerked around put down down down denigrated disrespected ((used)) done over ticked off insulted dumped on cold shouldered ignored slighted trashed misled manipulated robbed scammed deceived trapped conspired against discombobulated confused
you is what you gets; does what you is
take it as it comes
whatever you can get
I’ll be there in a minute
…hang on a sec…
I said I’d be right back
can’t you understand?
just a tick
call waiting
will you hold, please?
Bio:
John C. Goodman lives in St John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador. His novel Talking to Wendigo (Turnstone Press) was short listed for an Arthur Ellis Award. His stories, poems and essays have appeared in The Fiddlehead; Otoliths; elimae; The Cartier Street Review; The Istanbul Literary Review and other magazines. He is the editor of ditch, (www.ditchpoetry.com), an online poetry magazine.
Jude Dillon
