United States, (b. 1953)
Movie Stars
- All movie stars are modeled on Jesus and Mary.
- Guys wearing camouflage are always conspicuous.
- Pigs can be excellent pets but are terrible friends.
- Loud music, I find, makes me introspective.
- Children love the circus, but for the wrong reasons.
- Capitalism is a dance which requires new shoes.
- Jesus and Mary often removed their shoes.
- Guys wearing camouflage invoke the Virgin Mary.
- Pigs watch television for the wrong reasons.
- Loud music makes a boombox suddenly conspicuous.
- A “good child” is one who is introspective.
- Capitalism gradually depresses all your friends.
- All movie stars have other movie stars for friends.
- Guys wearing camouflage wear plain black shoes.
- Pigs, after a meal of slop, grow deeply introspective.
- Loud music gives one visions of Jesus and Mary.
- Children at the circus have no urge to be conspicuous.
- Capitalism is entertaining for the wrong reasons.
- Jesus and Mary loved their enemies for the wrong reasons.
- Guys wearing camouflage have militaristic friends.
- Pigs in purple flannel underwear are conspicuous.
- Loud music allowed Peter Frampton to buy new shoes.
- Children pray unhesitatingly to Jesus and Mary.
- Capitalism bemuses scholars and the introspective.
- All movie stars, while sitting on the toilet, are introspective.
- Guys wearing camouflage buy new guns for a reason.
- Pigs will have sex next to a statue of the Virgin Mary.
- Loud music, at a party, makes it difficult to speak with friends.
- Children enjoy drawing with magic marker on their shoes.
- Capitalism is at once subtle, brutal and conspicuous.
- Jesus and Mary attempted to be inconspicuous.
- Guys in camouflage, deep in the woods, grow introspective.
- Pigs enjoy chewing on Manolo Blahnik shoes.
- Loud music gradually destroys the capacity for reason.
- Children invent secret languages with their friends.
- Capitalism markets lovely statues of Jesus and Mary.
- All movie stars, when they visit a circus, feel conspicuous.
- Guys in camouflage and black shoes tell their friends:
- “The reason I’m introspective is… I’m praying to Mary!”
About the Poet:
Sparrow [aka: Michael Gorelick], United States, (b. 1953), is a poet, activist, educator and musician. He is a gossip columnist for the Phoenicia Times, a contributing editor to Chronogram, a substitute teacher, and the author of three poetry books through Soft Skull Press. As a member of the New York-based literary group The Unbearables, Sparrow has has also published chapbooks in collaboration with the St. Mark’s Poetry Project, and he has served as the editor for the literary journal Big Fish. Sparrow can be heard, along with his band Foamola, on the poetry compilation Poemfone: New Word Order(Tomato).
Sparrow’s poetry has appeared in The New Yorker, The Quarterly, The New York Times and many other journals. He was published in The New Yorker after picketing their offices in 1996 while holding a sign reading, “My Poetry is as bad as yours”. He currently lives with his wife Violet Snow and daughter in the Woodstock region of the Catskill Mountains in New York. [DES-07/22]