This one is called "You Go, Me Stay, Two Autumns," and yeah,
I wrote this book during the pandemic so there's a lot of--
this poem is about the neighborhood
during the lockdown and about my crazy neighbors
and what what's happening politically and so forth.
And the title comes from a haiku by Masaoka Shiki,
his dates are 1867 to 1902, and he wrote 20,000 haiku, so,
yeah.
And normally I live in San Diego on the border of TJ,
and so there's a there's a lot going-- it's a border poem.
Yeah.
And what else?
I'm using Chinese parallel couplets
and also I'm using hip-hop polysyllabic rhymes.
So perhaps you will hear all those, yeah, influences.
OK.
"You Go, Me Stay, Two Autumns."
Also audience, that's a refrain, and you,
please speak the refrain when it comes with me when,
yeah, when I cue you.
OK.
[LAUGHTER]
"You Go, Me Stay, Two Autumns."
"Wipe your lipstick off the milk carton.
Get off your high horse and wicked palanquin.
Dye your ancestral roots kryptonite Day-Glo.
Paint your opposable thumbs Urban Decay bonobo.
Photobomb a grief group, confess you're happy.
Hang upside down off a moonbeam.
Screech like a banshee.
You go, me stay, two autumns.
(ALL) You go, me stay, two autumns.
Dan and Keats scratching tunes in the kitty litter,
purring poetry and god through a negative ion capacitor.
Air hug your biker neighbor, not too tight, she might bite.
Rock roses and jasmine bathe in chain-linked light.
Queen bees a hivin' beyond meat on the barbie.
Squid ink gnocchi six-foot away still looks nasty.
You've been knocking down mojitos, face licking
boy chicks at the grotto.
Auntie's decoupling sending you back to Idaho.
(ALL) You go, me stay, two autumns.
You go, me stay, two autumns.
Catch a midge in mid-air, kiss her skinny lips, let go.
A raven attacks my wig, he's Edgar Allan Poe.
Twittering in twilight, raptors killing doves.
Some singing about inequality, some crooning love.
Don't fall for the pool boy, ain't got a pool.
Don't fall for the girl boy, can't do ambiguity.
But please wear it, N95 face mask if you want to see me.
(ALL) You go, me stay, two autumns.
You go, me stay, two autumns.
June says, You're too quiet, Mei Ling, go shout at a rainbow.
Adrian says, Come visit Michelle and me for Utopian fish gumbo.
Why do I speak to the dead?
'Cause the living are a-holes."
Sorry about that.
[LAUGHTER]
"Fat man, little boy, someone will hit bottom.
Why worry about nuclear winter?
Our species will be forgotten.
(ALL) You go, me stay, two autumns.
You go, me stay, two autumns.
The princess on the left says, You rhyme with rich.
The princess on the right says, Your poetry is shit.
Over a million dead, better stay home, you might be next.
I'm not funnier than Stevie Smith waving her undies, not
funnier than Margaret Cho, I'm not that bold.
Funnier than Aristophanes?
The frogs croak no, oh, oh, oh oh."
Some really nerdy references here for English majors, right?
(ALL) "You go, me stay, two autumns.
You go, me stay, two autumns.
Is that a 19th century Mauser, or are you happy to see me?
Don't brag about your viral load, European amongst peonies.
Hating black people, though one is your brother,
hating white people, though one is your mother.
Killing racism like killing lice, bomb it,
rate it, will return, Minnesota nights.
(ALL) You go, me stay, two autumns.
You go, me stay, two autumns.
Visited Granny Wang in her raised metro bed.
Helped her to route erase aubergine drag.
She told this story, sorry, my translation is bad.
One day whilst shopping at Walmart,
a hoodlum grabbed my brocade purse
and called me a stupid old chink.
I chased him down the parking lot,
hooked his ankle with my Phoenix claw cane,
dragged him home in my flying wheelchair,
reciting the Dharma of Six Thieves.
Steamed some butterfly shrimp dumplings
in celestial garlic persimmon cream.
He gorged three bowls and licked a spoon then napped
in my La-Z-boy like a prince.
I said, I call your mother to fetch you.
He said, But my mother is dead.
Praise the mysterious female, mysterious female.
I met a masked vaquera at the border fair.
We line danced to Cupid Shuffle and Achy Breaky Heart.
She loved Selena, Shakira, and Cumbia bands.
Don't remember much now, but the pony can dance.
(ALL) You go, me stay, two autumns.
You go, me stay, two autumns."
[CLAPPING]
Thank you.
Thank you, for your participation.
[LAUGHTER]