THE poems in that book suck bug nuts.
I believe you know the drill.
I must find the woman Cabrera, sleeves
Cut at a chevron angle.

Today I am a ladybug.
I’m sitting on a policeman’s shoulder. I must
Find the woman Cabrera, thousand
Bucks says you miss.

At the Cena Trimalchionis I saw
Two poodles in a yard.
Why don’t you run off to your little hidey-hole,
And think that one over.

Sucks to suck, my poo nugget.
I’ll do whatever you say. Oh, look
Where attention-deficiently
The poor wretch comes reading!

To a perpetual state of hiphop
And an organ-grinder God
SACHER-MASOCH hath no ear: to that
High requiem become a Sade.

Here is something new.
I can turn myself into a ladybug!
Can put on a bolero jacket and
Take a vacation.

With pen uncapped, I’m turning the leaves
Of the entomological dictionary. I
Hate every single poet who’s
Not in my generation.

I ain’t looking for an apology.
I’m runnin’ up my phone bill,
Standing out here in snowshoes
In the nick of Nova Scotia. Mister

Button-on-a-Trumpet! Miss
Bellybutton with a gem! I’d like
To see something in writing. Guys
Love it when you boss ’em around.

Guys love it when you boss ’em!
So step up and voice your demands.
The Asian skunk cabbage blossom
Took part in the show of hands.

And Rachel Rip-Roarin’ Masterson’s
All over the room at once.
A NAVEL ORANGE who’s out to encourage
The drill, the saw, and the punch.

The drill, the saw, and the punch!
I know, I know, I know. We gotta
Save her before she flunks,
The pretty little failboat.

Is a flowerpot a kind of flower?
Or only a kind of pot? I am
Fucked and getting fuckeder. I’ll
Do whatever you say.

Here is something new.
I’m running lines in a corner. I must
Find the woman Cabrera, I must
Turn myself into a ladybug,—

I must defeat the disinclination
Of the two poodles in the yard:
Hunt up a tragic marker
When it’s time to sign the card.

And if, fackity fack, she turns her back,
I know how to get ’er done.
Take a bicycle pump to a Moonbounce,
Sink a shovel in the sun.

A shovel in the sun! Oh,
I do whatever I’m told! Seventeen
Stanzas for the klepto, seven-
Teen-and-a-half years old.