P O E M S by Alec Emerson

FLOSS CITY

You don't have to be apprenticed
to a dentist
to floss.
 
You don't have to sing
for a king,
to floss,
 
You don't have to like geese, a
root canal, or Teresa,
to floss.
 
But if you want tarter
to barter,
don't floss.
 
And to chew with brown stumps
of brown moss,
don't floss.
 
But to keep your teeth happy,
not gappy or cross, be they
flat white, or white satin,
or even white gloss,
you gotta floss regular,
or               gape at their loss.

September 2008

AUGUST, 2008

Imagine a pathological liar in the White House.

Imagine he starts a war with his pathological lies.

Imagine 80,000 people are killed.

Imagine that 1/4 of them, 20,000, are children.

Imagine that 1/2 of the children, 10,000, are girls.

Imagine 10,000 little girls stacked on the White House lawn.

Imagine glowing coals under a Texas-sized grill.

Imagine rich, glittering smiles.

Imagine a Skull and Bones barbeque.

August 2008

listen to poem

Trivial Pursuit

God was in charge of:

a) Andersonville
b) Auschwitz
c) Dachau
d) Guantanemo.

Trivial Pursuits

Americans have the most:

a) Corporate Prisons
b) Corporate Presidents
c) Corporate Congressmen
d) All of the above.

August 2008

listen to poem

Long before I was born,
Satchel Paige, lacking a home
plate, would put down a gum
wrapper and work the inside
and the outside corners
of the gum wrapper.

When I was a child,
I spoke as a child:
"I don't have anything against niggers.
Everyone should own a few."

Now, I am a museum piece,
going to a museum,
reading about how it once felt good
to hit a baseball,
just because it was white.
And I hope I understand.

June 2008

listen to poem

THE HAPPY HUNTING GROUNDS

So you wanna blow away another deer.
Heap big brave on native soil.

Be a dear.  Be fair.
Hunt something that shoots back.

Iraq. For a barrel of laughs,
a barrel of beer,
and a barrel of oil.

November 2007

listen to poem

BILL CLINTON EPITAPH

A GREAT NATION
HE WITH SMILE LED
WHILE MONICA NURSED
HIS OTHER HEAD

November 2007

 

 

 

listen to poem

GEORGE W. BUSH EPITAPH

IN SOLEMN STATE
HE SMIRKED AND LIED
LONG BEFORE HE
EVER DIED

November 2007

 

 

 

listen to poem

HAPPY  HOLIDAYS TO YOU

At two in the morning
under cover of night,
the body bags
come into Dover.

The President's vacation
must not be disturbed
by a few more
dead kids.

Sit down.
Relax.
Enjoy your
turkey.

November 2007

listen to poem

W ADDS LIBBY

Behold the sheik,
the spoiled cat,
betray again the sacred trust,
release his dirty rat.

July 2007

listen to poem

FAIR WARNING

The Germans had their kristallnacht.
Their dream of uber alles.

The Americans have their blitzkrieg of Iraq.
Again the song of breaking glass.

July 2007

listen to poem