What is poetry, anyways

They want articles about highways
in Arizona. I give them pipe bombs
sucking in air, windows shattering
out, blood sprinkled over.

They want cards with sweet messages
on holidays. I give them presidents
in back rooms whispering into ears
of prostitutes sent from nearby
embassies.

They want one for the children
they teach. I give them the children
teaching them with mouth to mic,
fat baby fingers rapping a podium,
rocking a poem; shut up,
they've forced me to tell them,
turn down the TV and listen!

- ra! gabriel

What Gets Me

my throat is itchy
friday's drinks may have
gotten me

my throat is itchy
sunday's drinks may have
gotten me

my throat is itchy
all that talk
to get her to come home with me
may have gotten me

- ra! gabriel

The Great Mystery

I see those disgustingly
legs long and bare
under Russian pea coats
with furry hoods
I want to pull down to know
the Great Mystery:
Is her face hot too?
I'm here in this city
seoul, a soul-less
place of cabbies cutting
red lights buses
barreling into busy
intersections spin with
lights people pushing, those
legs are the only goodness
so juicy and white and smooth
long and toned and tempting

- ra! gabriel

Brain Size Matters

man, a lot of people misunderstand
everything. anything. you knew
people were dumb, you just didn't
know you were one of them.

- ra! gabriel

solo dancer

it's thursday night
the band is on
they're usually a bit
off
beat and key
that's how good they
can be

almost falling off the deck

they're on now,
on their way:
a fart in the corner
an attack

there's this one woman
not unattractive

she's got some scarf over her elbow
it's kind of caught
because she holds her hand up
because she holds a drink

the vodka inside
is almost falling off the deck

like the music
it's not.

the band is soft now:
a romance, a ballad
a cupid romeo shooting
himself in the thigh
it's okay, you can say "loins"
here; fuck it, you can say
his fucking bulging cock
here,
that's what the band is saying
the bass is walking away
come here come here
what? that cupid myth is
bullshit? then what's it
all really about?
that business about how he
shot himself
is really that he jerked
off before he saw Persephone—
if that was the bitch's name

the romance is over
the jive is on, the groove
the strut, the hot step
the swag, it's saxophoned through
the psyche
the ether
that Esther, that's it, must be
the name—hit the piano
that's it!

she's the solo dancer
not spilling one drop

"eat that chicken" is next.

- ra! gabriel

makes me funk

the thing with seoul, is it is
so enclosed, you know all
hidden and boarded up, makes
my mind wonder what's
going on in dark corners
of the city. makes me make
dark corners happen in my
city.

- ra! gabriel

If you got funk

if you got funk you got style
the thing I'm most scared of
is myself. that temper. that
attack. 70s new york city in
me. in my blood. what can I
do? it's me.

- ra! gabriel

Dear Maria Sabine de Huautla

Now the buses slither
the dirt roads with idols
chickens on top
bags of rice
guadalupes and rosaries.
on their way to see you
so pray, to know
the great expanse
you are the launch pad
that throttles them
into free fall.

- ra! gabriel

Raga Brie

I used to love raga
that Mexican-style
hip-hop, all those
rhymes. and everybody
loves brie, brie and wine
brie and sweet green
seedless grapes.
consider this poem
a grape. consider each
word another glass of
wine. and I'm the brie:
ragabrie L.

- ra! gabriel

Confessions of an Imaginary Girlfriend

To whomever it may concern:
he's not a good man
in fact, he calls me ugly
all the time
throw me out after sex
needs his time for
listening to some little
voice in his head. that
voice just wants to get
with as many girls
as possible. to
whomever it may
concern: don't fall
for his lines. they are
brittle as an old man
playing hockey.

- ra! gabriel

Going

A strawberry is turning
but I pop it in my mouth
suck it from stem
it's too soft but good enough

- ra! gabriel

Subway goes

he runs to catch the train
that doesn't stop
time is internal, spiraling now
a girl he's been practicing imagining
waits for him at some improbable stop
still unbuilt: a mere proposal on a drawing
board in some workroom
will blast through cheap restaurants and
Laundromats; will attract new
buildings and they will dine on Tofu
soup and cold, chewy noodles

- ra! gabriel

The Go-Go Swim Show

I'm so tired poolside, what now?
Don't you think so?
She flirts drippingly with no shame
No? Show me no.

She so flirts drippingly with no shame
Just me, not any so-and-so
Hysterically sexy girl
Ho CEO!

Hello hysterically sexy girl
Dodo. Let go--
Some girls pull the guava insides
From your ego. Let go.

Some girls pull the guava insides
she knows you know, even so
she's the CEO of the strip show
bro'. Flow aglow.

She's so the CEO of the strip show
so-so, sitting drinking green tea
in that short skirt, cup in front of the brie
she scowls, yet it's kind of sexy
No? Show me no!

She's so crazy, lazy
flirts drippingly with no shame
dumps on you all the blame
I'm so tired at the table, what now?
So slow we grow!

It's a go-go strip show, swim show
In bikini she's, whoa!
Even in Tagalog: gusto mo ho
I want no, let whims flow, a-
go-go swim show

- ra! gabriel

I love you, girl

Runway girl, au pair girl, birthday girl, fair-haired girl
am I not your girl? altar girl, alpha beta disco girl
atta girl, ass girl, runaway girl, bad girl,
bunny girl, chorus girl, pin-up girl, cover girl

a cowgirl, booty girl, cam-cyber-snooty-girl
a drunk girl, a dream girl, a geisha girl girly girl
fell in love with a girl, goodtime sweet schoolgirl
geek girl, turned flunk girl

fly girl gone pop girl,
now movie girl, drugged girl, drunk and blunted girl;
hollaback hooters girl, cosplay harajuku girl
gossip girl, ex-girl, gothic Lolita girl

party girl, rave girl, orion slave girl
pepsi-cola dog-shit girl, bubblegum quick-wit girl
juicy kamikaze girl, invisible materia-lizzy girl
Jersey girl: "I am not your girl," nasty girl, naughty girl
Internet porn girl.

Office girl, not innocent girl, not such a pretty girl,
nitro girl, little drummer girl, soy yogurt super-girl
Liberian girl, Jessie's girl, cosmic-Inca mummy girl
Mayan girl, ayahuasca girl, nothing's real but the girl kinda girl
Strawberry Fields, girl.

You go girl, show girl—queer eye for the straight girl
spice girl, slut girl, rice girl, what girl?
rope girl, snitch girl, sex and the single girl
dope girl, bitch girl, po' little rich girl

spider girl, bat girl, reverse fuckin' cowgirl
trojan girl-gamer girl, adware fuckin' blocker girl
surfer girl, tank girl, Brooklyn girl, who's that girl?
dance Shabba Ranks girl! My girl: yeah, thanks girl.

- ra! gabriel

Nice

Nice bombs, baby, said the bald chocolatier
Nice head, baldy, said the buxom Japanese babe
Nice babe, bin Laden, said the taxi driver stud
Nice chocolatier, stud, said the movie producer sissy
Nice chains & whips, Master, said the terrorist financer
Nice black markets, Director, said the henchmen pawns
Nice Jihadis, Allah, said the CEOs consolidating profits
Take a break guys, said the buxom Japanese slut
DP me on the boardroom table, she said,
Nice eyes from this page are on us. Don't worry it's art!
Nice jugs, baby, said the CEO & bald chocolatier
The words came out muffled cause their mouths were full of,
as you guessed, the best pressed breasts.

- ra! gabriel

No Joke

Notorious R.A.G. is back
with a cap in his ass
or an ass in his cap
so sick of the gansta rap

The radio is humming the
same old shit

shit.

I am getting my cock sucked again
by the Corporate Machine
wait, no, that's vice versa
the Corporate Machine is splooging
in my face.

Seriously, in my office, a university staff room
for real
only two of over twenty
knew the word splooge.

It's ejaculation, my friends,
I had to explain.

Seems I am turning out to be
the most normal of the group -

I lick it all up.

- ra! gabriel

Soon

What's worse is I never write anymore
I'm too hung up in a sling
of different girls, jobs, robberies.

What a life to make sure you have enough.
Enough beans or SPAM.
Enough condoms and lube.
Enough cute characters on MSN.

They always fall for that shit
soon they're rolling on the ground
shivering from tongue

soon they're calling once a day
texting into eternity

soon they're bleeding on the bedsheets
and your picking up the hairs.

- ra! gabriel

The Truth is Lying

The truth is lying again
said Haeng Namsa
then be Snow Bone China
tell a truth, tell a lie
who is ventolin?
who is lungs?
who is doubled over on the bed?
Is that the truth again?

- ra! gabriel

Press 1 for Inbox/Press 2 for Outbox

Remember the old-fashioned kermit-style email?
I know some of you do. Those of you from back in the day:
When the monitor was green text on black,
before there was SPAM. A mere 13 years later: I press

1.
SPAM and eggs
SPAM soup with ramyeon noodles
God SPAM America, no
SPAM bless America, yes
SPAM that I love…oops
I SPAMmed it again
"Where SPAMer, When SPAMer" in the album
SPAM service has SPAMkira soaring
to the tops of the SPAMboard charts
Latin SPAMerikan music
the SPAM is killing our thought processes
SPAM's better than glam
like SPAMzak;
"Ride the SPAM baby, yeah!" he SPAMmed
so she grabbed him by the ears and SPAMmed
"Give me your SPAM! yes! I'm SPAMming!"
He then pulled out and SPAMmed all over her face
which smeared her SPAM-up.
My SPAModerant is ruining my shirts
the tsunami left SPAM in the sea
but luckily none of the SPAM
were destroyed
Thou shall not SPAM
may the SPAM be with you
viva el SPAM!

2.
very unhealthy yet profitable;
first,
take the head of the meta
the tag
then,
cut the meat
who knows what scraps and toenails,
who knows what diseases
now;
sweep it all up
the broken links, the tags, the anchors
HTML, Coldfusion, ASP, JSP
and then,
send
it comes out like a pre-processed

slab o' shit
hard on
and hand job

See Britney SPAM naked!

- ra! gabriel

FLASH LIGHT

1.

it's a state of mind
accepted
maggot brain:

I taste the maggots
on the ring of the tub

all bushy and yeasty
growing

you can't stop death
no more than
you can stop life

that minor-major pull.

free your mind
of clouds of bullshit
and your ass will follow
right to con- and un-scious clarity

yeah.

2.

Tales of kid Rafadelic:
First, let's take it to the page
sunchild on his way down
to form sunlight rays into black ink sound
Boom Bash!
free your mind, become colorblind
I think I see the mothership
coming, swing down swing down
I gotta ride
I wanna ride
let me ride
static, frequency, float fly float
catch, here we radio in
on that resonance—W-E-F-U-N-K
the archangels on the one
everybody vibing off it, the one
ga goo goo ga
second, shine some light on
flash light on it
flash Ra on that postmodern
tribalism—what'd + Ra + call it?—
coatlism. Slithering snake-bird
god-man, Ra-devil
and third, Ra-angel has got his groove:
the electric spanking of war babies
and that's that.

3.

Uncle Sam is that dangerous
foul-mouthed pedophile of a man
Uncle Jam sits in his chair
telling stories. Let's sit and hear one:
many many years ago
in a parallel galaxy right here
light hears away
happening via ESP all the same now and then
in other words, many light-years ago today
the most powerful mothership in the world
is in the midst of a mothership mutiny
the atomic dogs started woof-woofing
why must I be like that? why must I chase the cat?
what all my homies saying?
bow wow wow yippe yo yippe yeah
the murderous strings come in
Bernie Worrell and Glenn bringing the mothership down
back again back on the backs of the gansta rap
the fathers of this generation's thought process
Ra's whole thought process
the shooting to each molecule from the
tiniest hair follicle
to the supernovas and nebula
vote for George Clinton
I'll tell ya people, if you keep sleeping
the only one that's gonna get funked up
is you.

- ra! gabriel

PRACTICE FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES

SATAN: If you don't mind, please give your stance on nuclear weapons.

BUSH: We're developing new ones.

- ra! gabriel

Love Song

She's a taco
a hiccup
a jalapeno pepper
salsa on eggs
cheese and onion on steak
a pineapple
teriyaki sauce
on hibachi'd beef
shwarma, or, as you'd say, a donner kebab
kimbab stuffed with tuna
eucalyptus-rolled tobacco
an alarm clock the moment before the clatter.

- ra! gabriel

The Nefarious R.A.G.

Corporatized State Capitalist Democracy
All governments are run by CEOs and corporations
whether American democratic or Chinese communist
the nefarious R.A.G.
can't take it anymore:
if Bush or any current Republican or Democrat
is my USA's leader then declare me a terrorist.
I will tear it all down. Wipe it all clean
R.A.G. corporate capitalism out of democracy.
Oops, the headline strikes back:
BIG BUSINESS WINS THE ELECTION (Again)
Dada:
Vincente Fox is filled with Bush cream
while Ra Gabriel tees off on a used bathroom--the
Nefarious R to the izza.

- ra! gabriel