guest post for a rainy day

George Wallace, a friend of mine and talented poet responsible for organizing a lot of the readings I've been to in the city, e-mailed me a poem this morning. He maintains PoetryBay.com as well as the Long Island Quarterly. The weather in Manhattan is rainy and cold and dreary today and it has been for a week and it's going to be for a week more. I've been feeling hints of depression and lack of inspiration, my insides mimicking my outsides. I haven't written a decent poem in weeks. But I really liked his so I wanted to share it with everyone. Sometimes things just happen and the reasons escape us and we go to bed and we wake up with headaches and we take the train to work and we don't know how any of it was possible before coffee.

biggie smalls is rapping on the radio

biggie smalls is rapping on
the radio -- biggie smalls
that’s his name – his
name's wallace too –
that’s right wallace like me
christopher george latore
wallace -- but everyone

calls him notorious

B.I.G. & he's got a　

cousin named Lil

Deceased or something

close to that -- which

& i know it's a little

obvious but I like

that name too & I

like how biggie spits

out his words -- drawls

them out -- a brooklyn

kind of loose easy action

he spits out his words

like broken teeth or

pieces of cement

& i like how

he tells a story

i mean not in the

usual way -- o & by

the way biggie smalls

is dead – shot four
times in the chest
in southern cal

in ‘97 -- that’s

thirteen years
ago -- it’s a
shame --
it’s a
mystery --
like wikipedia
says the murderer
was never
found –
o & by the
way last week
a college kid
jumped off
the gw bridge –
he was gay he was
from new jersey & his
roommates played
a trick on him &
now he’s dead –
people jump off
bridges a lot -- never
make a splash
-- but this one
makes a
splash &
the world
sits up from
its big stew
of nothingness
& says something
-- & now everyone’s
saying something even
ellen degeneres who cried
about it on national tv – every

body has an opinion & for

chrisssake the college kid

had a name -- tyler clementi

– nothing big nothing
notorious -- just tyler
& nothing’s ever going
to change in this world –

christopher george latore

wallace was just trying to

make some money for his

daughters -- tyler clementi
was just trying to find some
love – & me I’m trying to
make out the words
to this song –　 there’s
words for everything –
this world’s a big stewpot
of words – this world’s

a big mystery　 – this world

sits up & then it lies back

down again in its big

stew of nothingness &

dreams -- who killed biggie –

who killed tyler clementi --

murderers never get

caught -- ‘if you

don’t know,
now you know,
biggie’