Andy Clausen
PHONE WITH MOM
My mother in mild despair rues
My dearth of financial success
(her only criteria)
Mom I'M BORN NOT FOR MONEY
Just like the Mayakavosky movie
Version of Jack London's Martin Eden
(I went for the glory, not the bread)
What will you do when you get old?
Jack London will not help you
When you get old. He is dead. You
Have no woman; who will take care
of you? When I think how smart you were
You could have been a lawyer, anything!
You could have made something of your life.
Mom, now listen, and listen close, do you know
in 100 years people will be studying your
life & know why? Because you were my mother.
You sure think a lot of yourself
I'm trying to be objective
Well, tell me something, has your writing improved?
I think so, I'm learning & developing all the time
Good, I could hardly read it before.
It was like cat scratch.Oakland, 1992
ACCESS US!
Beauty is not dead
A Vision for the Future
better not dead
Romance & Love are not dead
Heart seeking description
Windows of mountains streaming
resolve & wisdom are not dead
Battered old rattlers
Lovers of old objects
that created yesterdays
free of pain
are not dead
Defiant traditions of straight talk
on the life & death walk
are not dead
The great paintings & parties
in the verses of poets
beyond language awe inspiring
felt in the middle of the body
ZAUM is not dead
The Beauty of folk poetry
is not dead
Only the Past
Only the vacuous language of obscurant
academes writing only to impress
other poets promoting exclusion
Only the nihilist TV heads
Only the fascist cowards
Only those who want knowledge to be
private property
are dead
Access Us!Oakland, 1992
