Bookburners of America Literacy Test Hoedown


evil bad words make my dog ornery and anarchic
dog's brain warped by author's seditious vision
let's save dog from himself and burn all the works of the author
which author is that? which country does your sad blood
find itself confused in?
dog lays on floor, philosophical
about all of this noise
ever since they taught dogs to read
this is what we get
define evil bad words, dog slobbers
define being ornery and anarchic
me? i just walk through
with a stack of books that fell from some sky
books that laugh, books that cry
books that eat your bones
you guys don't want to burn me as well, do you,
for walking around with these books
i'd put them down
but there's something about how they feel
some kind of unstated beauty in my fingers
from feeling the binding and the way the pages got cut
you lie, they say, lighting their bonfires
those books didn't just fall from some sky
they fell from your sky
i don't own a sky, i snarl
maybe you guys want to to buy some sky
but i'm okay right here on simpleton earth
dog takes me for a walk
those guys are kinda weird, he says
what are you reading now, I ask
Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow
haven't attacked that one yet myself, I admit
kinda fat and hard work,ain't it
hey,dog smiles, i love hard work
woof woof woolf virginia yeah yeah
well, i can abide hard work, i say, but i like not working too hard
just as much, just lemme have a Dennis Lehane or a Michael
Connelly anytime
you gotta do William Gaddis, dog nods, and McElroy
no, i say, i gotta do Larry Brown and Andrew Vachss
a helicopter follows us as we walk
it is very loud and ornery and anarchic
guys with portable bonfires are sitting in it
they think we'll lead them to the big library of love
they claim we must know something about a secret stash of books
any country that practices bookburning
is a desperate country
desperate countries get early heart attacks and shrivel up inside
dog, do you still bark poetry
sure, Scott, dog slobbers, want me to bark some now
only if its seditious and ornery
dog smiles and begins to bark

Scott Wannberg

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