[written 8 Feb. 2010]

I've got water on the brain but can hardly translate it
into words I believe can quench your thirst
whether in the Sudan or northeast Ohio

I've got water in my veins and I'd gladly bleed
to satisfy your worthy need if I believed
it would do the trick and I could survive the loss

Okay maybe I do and maybe I can
but I'm as afraid of blood letting as I am to believe that
there could be water enough to keep you alive in these syllables
when my spirit seems dryer than ash and blowing toward death

But though I fall apart
my limbs like embers put out by winter
my blood escaping prodigally onto the barren February earth
where my favorite pen lies half rusted and half frozen
I pick it up and attempt to get as much of my blood as possible
onto paper in the form of words and get them to you
perceived inadequacies and all
before both they and we dry out completely
rendering our water words and translation obsolete.


*

        

XLIV

Saints and Colts play catch
Broken up by old rock stars
Who win Super Bowl

*

        

Dish Work
at Columbia Hills Country Club, 1986

Geri was a waitress
served me a stiff drink called a screaming orgasm
vodka, Irish creme, amaretto and coffee liqueur

While soaked in steam from the dishwashing machine
I scrubbed dried hollandaise sauce
from some would-be PGA star's lunch plate
and waited for our lunch break
in the basement storeroom where we'd covertly
wash down the day's eggs Benedict with another

But this time no screaming

*

        

poster by Dianne Borsenik

THIS JUST IN: Effective immediately, the Lix and Kix poetry series Dianne Borsenik and I host at Bela Dubby in Lakewood is moving to the 3rd Wednesday of each month.  Tuesday was never our preferred day - we only took it in the first place because that was the only day our first venue, the 806 in Tremont, would give us their space - and we only kept it because we figured people were already used to our having Lix and Kix on a Tuesday.  But I've been itching to change the day for some time now - largely because there are two other very worthy poetry events that happen around Cleveland on the 3rd Tuesday of each month: the Nia Coffeehouse at the Coventry Village Library and (during the school year, at least) the CSU Poetry Center's longstanding reading series.   Moving to the 3rd Wednesday allows us to complement and support these other fine venues instead of competing with them.  And this makes me happy.

Here are a few upcoming happenings I hope you'll check out:

Thursday 11 February 2010 at 7 p.m. — John Burroughs will be featured poet at Dunkin' Donuts on State Rt. 303 in Brunswick, Ohio, hosted by the Brunswick Art Works.  An open mic will follow.

Wednesday 17 February 2010 at 7 p.m. — J.E. Stanley (co-author, with Joshua Gage, of the newly released Intrinsic Night, from Sam's Dot Press), Jack McGuane (Poet Laureate of Lakewood and author of Sleeping with My Socks, from deep cleveland press), and Roger Craik (author of the just published Of England Still, from Finishing Line Press) will be featured poets during the Lix and Kix poetry extravaganza at Bela Dubby, 13321 Madison Ave. in Lakewood, Ohio.  An open mic will follow.

Wednesday 17 March 2010 at 7 p.m. — The 2nd annual Lix and Kix St. Patrick's Day extravaganza will feature Trenchcoat Manifesto (poetry and music by Tom Adams and Richard Hearn), Michigan performance poet Zach Ashley, and Cleveland Heights' very own Sammy Greenspan (author of Step Back from the Closing Doors, from Pudding House Publications) at Bela Dubby, 13321 Madison Ave. in Lakewood, Ohio.  An open mic will follow.

Saturday 27 March 2010 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. —  The 2nd annual Feed the Gays benefit for the Cleveland State University GLASA (Gay, Lesbian And Straight Alliance) scholarship fund will feature an art show and an eclectic array of poetic and musical performers including Dianne Borsenik and John "Jesus Crisis" Burroughs at the Bounce Night Club & Union Station Cafe located at 2814 Detroit Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio.

Friday 2 April 2010 at 6:30 p.m. — Dianne Borsenik and John Burroughs will be featured performers during the Ohio Poetry Association's poetry & music series at the New Beginnings Cafe, 141 East Center Street in Marion, Ohio.  An open mic will follow.

Oh, and I've uploaded about 300 of my photos from Snoetry: A Winter Wordfest (which Dianne and I co-hosted on 16 January at the Last Wordsmith Book Shoppe in North East, PA) to my Facebook profile, in case you're interested in having a look.

Peace and poetry,
John
1/19/2010

        

Funny the things you can find "Googling" yourself....  Yesterday a reporter interviewed me for an upcoming article in the Medina Gazette.  Looking this morning to see if it had been published yet (a possibility, since she'd said her deadline was 2 p.m. yesterday), I stumbled upon this video Andy Timithy captured of me getting drawn by Tremont's Pretentious Artists back in August at the Literary Cafe:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/literarycafe/3860364779.

*

        

Lately it seems I've had a larger than usual number of folks pretending to be someone else trying to befriend me on Facebook.  Here's an eye-ku I wrote about one of them who I was pretty sure had lifted her screen name from a short story by Roald Dahl.  To her credit, after a series of vain attempts to convince me she was genuine, she eventually apologized, confessed her name was indeed assumed and claimed the whole charade had begun as a joke.  Her true identity remains a mystery.

MERRY BALONEY  [written 12/27/2009]

I'm bottle dogged by
Brandy disguised as cognac
A pour mask cur raid

        

Last week I found out my long-time best friend Martin was flopped by the Ohio parole board again.  He's spent 17 years behind bars already and won't get another shot at freedom til 2015.  I found out some other things, too.  So on Friday the 29th I trekked to Mansfield to visit him for the first time in three years (some friend, eh?).  I'd forgotten he can only get visits on even numbered days — but somehow I got in anyway.  We had two photos taken together (at 3 bucks apiece) — one I left with him, and the other I've scanned to share with you and e-mail to his other friends.

        

I've put more than one
dent in my Identity —
Now — I density.

*

        

[Bear in mind I am not really Jesus, he is not me, and this, like everything, is both fiction and fact.  To read my full disclaimer, click here.]


Christianity

You poison your friends against me
Then seek their advice regarding me
You warp their minds with reality
You mingle with neurotic fantasy
And then expect them to see
Through your cross eyes.

*

        

Poet and multi-dimensional artist Alex Gildzen (formerly of Elyria, Cleveland, Kent, and now residing in Santa Fe — whose Elyria: Point A in Ohio Triangle Crisis Chronicles Press had the privilege of publishing in 2009) has just announced the publication of his latest work: Tie One On, now available from Lars Palm's Ungovernable Press.  And I'm very pleased to be included in this unique project!

Gildzen's Tie One On is all one manuscript, but appears online in two parts due to the provider's space limitations.  Check it out for absolutely free by following these links:

Tie One On, Part 1 — http://ungovernablepress.weebly.com/uploads/2/1/2/2/2122174/tie_pt1.pdf

Tie One On, Part 2 — http://ungovernablepress.weebly.com/uploads/2/1/2/2/2122174/tie_pt2.pdf

Thank you, Alex!
Peace and poetry,
John

        

This is your pilot, Jesus.  This airplane I call me's been in a bit of a creative funk lately.  I can't be totally biographical (or autobiographical) because I'm concerned with what people might think if they lack all the context — I'm afraid folks might not see the whole picture and I don't trust my ability or willingness to give it to them.  I don't want to oversimplify or caricaturize anyone.  And I can't please everyone, though I desperately want to do just that.  I also can't make interesting things up because (1) I don't want folks who are used to me trying to be real thinking they can take them as real happenings and (2) I don't want to bullshit folks or be accused of bullshitting or confuse the facts of my existence with the bullshit to such a degree that no one knows what to believe.  Often I feel I can't be creative or blur the lines of reality — even though I know it's impossible for anyone to be totally objective and as soon as we put anything into words we immediately make it both more and less than what it really is.  There are no real lines, are there?  But I simply can't.  Or can I?  I often feel I must be plain spoken and prosaic, lest anyone misunderstand.  But do I?

Okay, this airplane has been in the hangar long enough.  And if it's to stay there indefinitely, what's the point of having a plane or paying the hangar fees anyway?  I'm telling myself, "Just write, brother!"  So I'm going to simply free flow — not worry about sticking to the facts or staying in character or even speaking with my own voice.  The perspective will change constantly.  I'll be using the voices of a multitude of others, real and imagined, with indistinct and in some cases nonexistent boundaries between them all.  And I will write, as much as possible, without thinking — without caring if it's totally true or totally false, if it's well or "adequately" written, or even whether anyone will understand any or all of it or not.  I just want to manure my garden.  This is creative writing, people, or my latest stab at it.  Don't take it too seriously — but know, on the other hand, that I'm taking it very seriously — though I'm throwing out my self-written "book" of how to write, for liberty's and prolificity's sake.  This is an experiment, in the name of Jesus.  And despite my nom de blog, I'm not really Jesus — never have been.  Jesus is dead, and I can put anything I want — including my would-be literary air craft — into his mouth.  This prospect stimulates me.

That's the disclaimer — time to fly.  Stay tuned.


[To read "Jesus Speaks - 2. Christianity," click here.]

        

Don't be mad, I won't
join your Facebook Mafia.
Killing ain't a game.


*

        

[Here's an impromptu stream of con-shush-ness "poem" I composed in a few minutes yesterday in the comment section of one of my Facebook status updates as an exercise in breaking up a few mental logjams and in shaking up depression:]

John Burroughs is something
like an indeterminately charged
deep press ion
positive or negative
depending on which way
the wind's particles blow
North Pole
South Pole
Godsend
asshole
... still
I'm something
like an indeterminately charged
deep press ion
no see icon
rhyme addict
line scion
cowardly lion
lying in a meadow
full of leaves
of grass
saying to my north
and south poles
I'm Walt
wit man
my ass

        

First sitting U.S. President since Truman to visit Lorain County — first ever to eat at Smitty's or drive past our home on Cleveland Street.  I took video with my right hand and snapped this photo with my left yesterday.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEt5P9JTik8

        

Dianne Borsenik, me and Megan Collins circa 12:30 p.m. at Snoetry on 16 January 2009
photo by Mark Hersman with my camera

Alas, the Last Wordsmith Book Shoppe, (that fantastic store in historic North East - near Erie - Pennsylvania, where Lix and Kix held Snoetry: A Winter Wordfest this past weekend) is going out of business.  Starting today, almost everything in the place is being sold for 75% off.  Methinks now's a great time return to the scene of the rhyme (pardon the bad pun), make a pilgrimage of sorts while you still can, say thank you to Megan, and pick up some marvelous last-minute deals on the Last Wordsmith's delightfully eclectic assortment of books, glorious books.



17 East Main Street
North East, Pennsylvania 16428
Phone: 814-725-9141
http://www.lastwordsmith.com


Since my last blog post, sundry reviews, accounts, photos and more from and about Snoetry have appeared online - and here are a bunch of links to some of the most interesting, all in one place, for your convenience and delectation:

Cleveland Poets Represent OH at PA Festival by T.M. Göttl

Snoetry Poetry Goetry by Steven B. Smith

Reading at SNOETRY: A Winter Wordfest 2010 by Nabina Das

Poems from Snowetry by Michael Grover


The rest of these links might require you to sign into Facebook (or befriend the poster there) to view them:

Snoetry photos by Dianne Borsenik

Snoetry Sizzles - photos by Nabina Das

Snoetry photos by Aleathia Drehmer

Snoetry photos, part 1 by John Burroughs

Snoetry photos, part 2 by John Burroughs

Snoetry photos by Michael Grover

Snoetry photos by Wendy Shaffer


If you know of any others, please let me know, or provide links in the comments below.

Peace, love and poetry,
John

Me reading "Keyed Up" circa 10 p.m. at Snoetry on 16 January 2009
photo by Dianne Borsenik with my camera