Tuesday Nights

Tuesday Nights Outside The Church of Gustavo Adolphus
BY Taylor Mali

An odd assortment of men  

Stands outside the church  

(every Tuesday nights)smoking,  

Their common addiction  

Stronger than Jesus

I want to ask what they come for 

And whether they find it  

But am afraid, perhaps,  

That having once been told,  

I will need it too.

From his collection The Last Time as We Are

I am a writer! Eat my Verbal dust!

Even I have to fight to surpress my inner literary elitist from time to time. It's not that I'm the most amazing poet ever or that I truly think I am. It's just that I sometimes get caught up in my own wit and literary magnitude...shouting, “I am a writer! Eat my Verbal dust!”

haha!

Enjoy Taylor Mali's hilarious poem about poets.

:)

I Could Be a Poet
BY Taylor Mali

I think I could be a poet because I like to wear a lot of black.
And I can think of incongruous images like a Marxist with a trust fund.
A Porsche pulling a U-Haul, a lobsterman in Birkenstocks sipping a cappuccino,
with his pinkie pointing toward the sky.
I have studied the poets who sing song out their lines
for no other reason than that’s how it’s done,
in love with the sound of their own voices,

::HEART::Write::Bloody::

This time last year, I got the most amazing surprise - a book of love poems. And it was no ordinary book of mushy poetry. NO! This book, The Last American Valentine, the self-proclimned collection of "illustrated poems to seduce and destroy," was an collection of off-beat poems and "flash poetry." It was also the start of my great love affair with Write Bloody Publishers.

So, of course you could only imagine my glee when my secret Santa, again, surprised me with a Write Bloody book. This time, Taylor Mali's The Last Time as We Are. They just keep rolling out with the hottness and, since I'm on a bit of a Taylor Mali kick right now, I wanted to put in my own little plug for this book. I just started reading it and absolutely cannot put it down...but I must...to eat. and shower. and work...but, you get the point.
I've included a quick snap of one of my fav - "Ars Poetica." Funny and clever. The best combination!



Check out these and other great poetry collections today at Write Bloody's online store . Full time poets gotta eat too:-)

More about Write Bloody from Write Bloody
We publish and promote great books of fiction, poetry and art every year. We are a small press with a snappy look dedicated to quality literature. We have offices in LA, NYC and Murfreesboro, TN. Our design team has been pulled from all over America. We are proud of our unique style by utilizing modern painters, photographers and rock album designers for all our book cover art. We publish and promote 8-12 tour savvy authors per year. We are grass roots, DIY, boot strap believers . Our employees are authors and artists so we call ourselves a family.

What Can Make You Jump

US Poet Laureate Billy Collins once said, "Not since Taylor Mali has there been a poet of the likes of Taylor Mali"

Oh so true! Mali translates his academic mastery of the English lanaguage into a highly polished and accessible delivery. He writes about things we all can relate to in a way that we all wish that we could. This is one cool cat!!

Anyway...while listening to some old poetry podcasts, I found this oldie but goodie that always makes me tear up. A poem about his late wife...


Depression, too, is a kind of fire
BY Taylor Mali

...and I was going to write a poem
about how fire is the only thing
that can make a person jump out a window.

And maybe I’m an idiot for thinking I could have saved her—
call me her knight in shattered armor—
could have loved her more,
or told the truth about children.

But depression, too, is a kind of fire.
And I know nothing of either.

Text from Spindle Magazine

Text for Taylor

For those of you who prefer reading over listening, here's the text of yesterday's Taylor Mail piece. Literally, there are too many gems in here! Read carefully and enjoy!

:-)

How to Write a Political Poem
BY Taylor Mali

However it begins, it's gotta be loud
and then it's gotta get a little bit louder.
Because this is how you write a political poem
and how you deliver it with power.

Mix current events with platitudes of empowerment.
Wrap up in rhyme or rhyme it up in rap until it sounds true.

Glare until it sinks in.

Because somewhere in Florida, votes are still being counted.
I said somewhere in Florida, votes are still being counted!

See, that's the Hook, and you gotta' have a Hook.
More than the look, it's the hook that is the most important part.
The hook has to hit and the hook's gotta fit.
Hook's gotta hit hard in the heart.

Because somewhere in Florida, votes are still being counted.

And Dick Cheney is peeing all over himself in spasmodic delight.
Make fun of politicians, it's easy, especially with Republicans
like Rudy Giuliani, Colin Powell, and . . . Al Gore.
Create fatuous juxtapositions of personalities and political philosophies
as if communism were the opposite of democracy,
as if we needed Darth Vader, not Ralph Nader.

More

How to Write a Political Poem - Oldie But Goodie

Taylor Mali has so many great poems, but this is my absolute favorite.

It's one of those "funny because it's true" pieces that truthfully and comedically tells it like it really is. It seems like there's almost an un-spoken formula on how to write and speak a political poem that performance poets learn at birth. I know that I've committed my fair share of the things he describes in this piece...especially the last bit. Ouch! Guilty as charged:-)

Because all you have to do to end a political poem is
close your eyes,
lower your voice, and end by saying:

the same line three times,
the same line three times,
the same line three times.

hilarity!!