My Factless Autobiography
By Alli Warren
I arise around survival of the event
as worse than the event
The whole place surrounds the smell
I take one step toward and ten paces back
breathless with the mirrors
with the fees and meters
Feces I fax my demon family
weeping on the bridge again
My condition was induced as follows
Releasing actual sales numbers, trying to mount
the policeman or his horse
tonguing captains manually
strong simultaneous tendencies to approach
and avoid appearance and avoidance
Men come to my cherry doors to carry on
about finance and cricket
coaxing a cavernous oath
wrestling natives into nestling
My part is basically to hatch
with regard for human dignity and life
In my best foreign automobile
stunting the stupor fronting us
In order to love my country better
I offer monthly meter readings
I am filled with rhythm, passion and speed
protruding in public
popping my collar into a wreck
My father sits me down
Son, he says, don't let them enter
your mouth I wrote a narrative
about our collective pain
and went shopping
Copyright Credit: Alli Warren, "My Factless Biography" from Here Come the Warm Jets, City Lights Spotlight No. 10. Copyright © 2013 by Alli Warren. Reprinted by permission of City Lights Books.
Source: Here Come the Warm Jets (City Lights Books, 2013)