At seventeen Adrienne Veronese apprenticed at Boston’s Stone Soup Poetry before being banned for tossing a pint of beer in Gregory Corso’s face. Never sit behind her at the podium and shout, “Well, her poetry may suck, but from my point of view she’s got a nice ass.
Expert Poem
If you are not an expert
you should not be reading
this poem.
Only an expert
is qualified enough
to know at a glance
if these words
have been manufactured
according to strictly regulated standards.
If a shelf date
has not been stamped
at the bottom,
proceed with caution
for it may be an indication
that this is an unauthorized
or bootlegged poem.
If there is a shelf date
and it has expired
do not attempt to return poem
to its place of origin.
Experts disagree on the
repercussions.
Banksy Sighting
Though I handed you the keys
I didn’t expect you to read to me
from your manuscript
while you were driving
not when I am lost
in the passenger seat
on this unknown highway.
I have spent a lifetime protecting you
from the predatory practices
of elected servants & their handlers,
armed with little more than the fact
that I’m tall and thin & carry
a ball point pen into battle
and am well aware that it’s your life
to live on your own terms now
but will you please take your foot
off the accelerator long enough
to help me understand
what it is I’m seeing out the window?
You give me few clues other than to mention
art for art’s sake and money for god’s sake
leaving me wondering if I must resort
to writing my Lazarus poem without
Johnny Cash to guide me.
Which would it be if not even Old Crow
showed up to watch over my shoulder: art
or mythology?
Both, you answer cryptically
& put the pedal to the metal, it’s
the only remedy for industrial disease.
The skyline turns pink & I wonder
if we will make it safely
to the approaching dawn & whether
this twilight is only here to lead us
to a spray painted awakening that’s been
stenciled on the horizon
in anticipation of our arrival.
What if there are visionaries
who saw all of this coming?
you wonder back at me.
What if they resorted to the mad genius
of graffiti art because Hansel & Gretel
got too greedy to share their breadcrumbs
“Expert Poem” + “Banky Sighting” are both previously published in Fuck Art, Let’s Dance Issue #012.
the former Nostrovia! Tavern 