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"I Like My Own Poems," by Jack Grapes
I like my own poems
best.
I quote from them
from time to time
saying, “A poet once said,”
and then follow up
with a line or two
from one of my own poems
appropriate to the event.
How those lines sing!
All that wisdom and beauty!
Why it tickles my ass
off its spine.
“Why those lines are mine!”
I say
and Jesus, what a bang
I get out of it.
I like the ideas in them,
my poems,
ideas that hit home.
They speak to me.
I mean, I understand
what the hell
the damn poet’s
talking about.
“Why I’ve been there,
the same thing,” I shout,
and Christ! What a shot it is,
a shot.
And hey,
The words!
Whew!
I can hardly stand it.
Words sure do not fail
this guy, I say.
From some world
only he knows
he bangs the bong,
but I can feel it
in the wood,
in the wood of the word,
rising to its form
in the world.
“Now, you gotta be good
to do that!” I say
and damn! It just shakes
my heart,
you know?
Jack Grapes is a poet, playwright, and actor and edits the literary journal ONTHEBUS. He is also a well-known teacher of poetry in the Los Angeles area who has won several publishing grants and Fellowships in Literature from the National Endowment for the Arts and who has received several Artist-in-Residence Grants from the California Arts Council. His play Circle of Will recently ran in the Los Angeles area with Grapes starring as Will Shakespeare. His work has been characterized as “operating somewhere in the middle ground between pop culture and philosophy.” “I Like My Own Poems” is from Trees, Coffee, and the Eyes of Deer, published by Bombshelter Press and reprinted by permission.
Here's something you might be interested in.
"I Like My Own Poems," by Jack Grapes
"I Like My Own Poems," by Jack Grapes
I like my own poems
best.
I quote from them
from time to time
saying, “A poet once said,”
and then follow up
with a line or two
from one of my own poems
appropriate to the event.
How those lines sing!
All that wisdom and beauty!
Why it tickles my ass
off its spine.
“Why those lines are mine!”
I say
and Jesus, what a bang
I get out of it.
I like the ideas in them,
my poems,
ideas that hit home.
They speak to me.
I mean, I understand
what the hell
the damn poet’s
talking about.
“Why I’ve been there,
the same thing,” I shout,
and Christ! What a shot it is,
a shot.
And hey,
The words!
Whew!
I can hardly stand it.
Words sure do not fail
this guy, I say.
From some world
only he knows
he bangs the bong,
but I can feel it
in the wood,
in the wood of the word,
rising to its form
in the world.
“Now, you gotta be good
to do that!” I say
and damn! It just shakes
my heart,
you know?
Jack Grapes is a poet, playwright, and actor and edits the literary journal ONTHEBUS. He is also a well-known teacher of poetry in the Los Angeles area who has won several publishing grants and Fellowships in Literature from the National Endowment for the Arts and who has received several Artist-in-Residence Grants from the California Arts Council. His play Circle of Will recently ran in the Los Angeles area with Grapes starring as Will Shakespeare. His work has been characterized as “operating somewhere in the middle ground between pop culture and philosophy.” “I Like My Own Poems” is from Trees, Coffee, and the Eyes of Deer, published by Bombshelter Press and reprinted by permission.