a poem about a black person: a poetry collection

i sit on a futon
i lay with my girlfriend
i feel depressed
i pet my american eskimo dog
i make some macaroni and cheese
i watch millionaire matchmaker
i feel awful
my brother went fishing once and caught my friend’s sister, by her cheek
i smoke a cigarette
i look at the lawn
i think ‘i want milk’


feeling cold, i rock back and forth and shiver
i look at ice sheets on the ground
‘when will it snow again’
i stare at my dog, he stares back
when we move closer to the sun it feels warmer outside
indigestion is like a brief reminder of death
i spend time thinking of ways to ward off chronic depression
i watch californication
i imagine palm trees in my off time
i think ‘are people thinking about me right now’
i think ‘yes’
someone looks, there is a picture of an egret on the wall
i feel unwilling to move upward, from sitting to standing
i feel uninhibited by my humanity
i will become an alien eventually, moving from one planet to the next
when trees grow they think about being uninhibited and move outward
upward
indigestion is like a recurring stab wound


once my dick got hard and i put it in my hand and then didn’t do anything else
there is never a fixed number of humans everywhere
hold on, i want alcohol
ichthyology
my favorite color is orange; afraid of it
i am also afraid of trees and their ubiquitous nature
human nature also dictates the necessity for ubiquity
i feel cold


i recently had an anxiety attack thinking about how awful anxiety attacks are
withholding information from your mate is a good way to drive them away from you
if i write another line of poetry will that do anything
dissecting the nature of books, ink, letters, words, paragraphs, pages, binding, book cover
book
when imagining sports i think of religion
when imagining religious practices i think of team workouts
black, red, yellow, blue
poetry
poetry
i’m rocking back and forth imagining deciduous trees
there is a deciduous tree in my house that someone murdered
warm, cold, warm cold
i went fishing once and pricked my finger on the hook while mounting a worm
the weather seems both bleak and hopeful to me
not being sure about myself feels comforting, in as much as potential seems possible
when i die, i want you to feed my ashes to dragons


my dog wears a saucer because he keeps licking a wound on his hind leg
once the apple core is reached, place the entire core into your mouth and suck
he studies fish mostly
he studies fish mostly
he studies fish mostly
androgynous humans have both an advantage and a disadvantage
i am unaware of what those are
i just thought ‘heathrow airport’
does fingerbanging count as fucking since lesbians count it as fucking
[profound statement]
awful, i am awful, i am not worth this or anything


poetry
poetry
poetry
poetry
poetry
poetry
poetry
poetry
poetry
poetry
someone has already done this before
poetry
poetry
poetry
poetry
someone has also already done this before
poetry
this referring to a meta, self-referential poem repeating something
poetry
poetry
poetry
poetry
poetry
poetry
someone has read a poem like this to an audience
the audience did not clap
poetry
poetry
poetry
you will not clap
poetry
poetry
poetry
poetry
poetry
just kidding
i will not read this aloud
poetry
poetry
poetry
poetry
poetry
poetry
poetry
poetry
just forgot how to spell ‘poetry’
poetry
poetry
poetry
start laughing please


this poem about a black person is going to be long
the poem will consist of almost one hundred lines of free verse
and few, if any, references to specific, well-known black people
this poem about a black person will, however remain strictly on point
because this poem has a purpose
this poem about black people will expand the horizon of your capacity for knowledge
it will be a poem that convinces you to be a meaner person
however this poem will not maintain any specific position on racial perspective
instead, it will be a poem about what it is supposed to be about:
about a black person
a black person who you would identify immediately as black in real life
from facial structure and vocal intonation
and this poem will continue to extrapolate on things you need to know
because you need to know about this black person
you need to know that black people are people
that they are not space aliens, as far as we know
black people, and specifically the black person this poem will be about, have things
some of the things are very serious, like facial expressions
sometimes the black person who this poem is about has sex
interestingly enough, and i put this line in scare quotes so you know there is implicit meaning, you have come to understand something important
this poem will be an informative poem
the information you will receive will lead to wisdom when dealing with black people
but it will do very little in the way of how you react to the black person it will be about
it will start like this: dear not black people, and will sound like a letter
it will be an editorial letter to non-black people
but that contains hard facts and evidence about the nature of black people and therefore it will reflect aspects of things you will find abstract but relevant to yourself
because there is exclusivity among humans
but all humans mostly seem to follow similar patterns
the black person who this poem will be about isn’t very different from other humans
there are things this black person is good at, and humans must experiment to find those things
what if the black person this poem will be about, went to mars
what if this black person ate a bologna sandwich
what if this black person didn’t know what black really meant
what if the inherent subjective relativity in meaning ceased to exist
there would be concrete things mentioned about this black person
non-black people would look at a black person out of the context of complex verbal communication
and communicate internally that the black person is black
people would walk around and only think without speaking and things would happen
and hypothetical situations would occur
and they would be mentioned in this poem
and this poem would convince you that being nonverbal and antisocial is a really a popular social mechanism
and more people would catch on and start doing it too
extreme instances of cause and effect would break down some elements and construct others
and black people would still be made of atoms
feelings of imminent pain and disaster would follow
spurred by the mentioning of black people and poems about specific black people
feelings of inadequacy would begin to arise
and this poem which will be about a black person would be banned
and billions of people would know what black people are
and that they are genetically more susceptible to sickle-cell anemia
the black person who this poem will be about has had experiences with other black people
has talked to them
has confessed love to them
discussed nietzche with them
them them them with them
this black person has communicated with insane, out of control black people
and is related to some
and has communicated with profound, genius-level black people
and is related to some
this black person experiences extreme, crippling loneliness
and out-of-control rage
and feelings of social inadequacy
has made facial expressions falling under the adjectives neutral, happy, confused
the black person this poem will be about has experienced something abstract called morality
has been challenged while doing things at the time considered completely normal things to do
accused of douchebaggery and unwarranted bitching
the black person who this poem will be about may interact with you some day
and will want not to be perceived as a black person
but will anyway
and time will pass and other aspects of this black person’s personality will arise and you will make a decision about persistent feelings you have around this black person
you may become friends with this black person
you may become mortal enemies and remain in contest for the rest of your interactions
regardless, this poem about a black person will remain to be about that black person
and you will remain you


when combating severe depression, think sarcastically about killing yourself
discuss antonyms and the phonology and origin of the word ‘antonym’
write poems about severe depression that aren’t depressingly long
eat carbohydrates
sing quietly to yourself in your room
begin to write a song, then stop and forget the chords and melody
and the words, which were about a girl you have imagined sex with
tell your friends you feel alright, that you think your life is great
watch football with your family and decide to root for the side they don’t like
pretend you have a fantasy football team and pretend to send text messages to your leaguemates
take a poop and feel the shit that got lodged where your fractured tailbone curves
feel the burn


i want to write a poem about what it feels like to be a filmmaker
i want to say i feel crippled by the standard noah baumbach, wes anderson and roman coppola have set
i want to say that i wish i were them
i want the poem to say that i wish i were established and making movies for money that were artistically satisfying
i want you to read how i lay awake at night thinking about how i may never become that
i want you to empathize briefly with the concept of not accomplishing unreasonably hefty life goals
i want you to stop empathizing and focus on reading the poem
i want to be you reading the poem