Finding you face-down in the peony bed,
The ladder fallen beside you. You weren’t dead.
and the end of the poem:
...The vet said
It's time. Who will say those words to us.
Who will listen.
Showing posts with label Alan Catlin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alan Catlin. Show all posts
Sunday, April 9, 2017
Day 9: Misfit Magazine
and the end of the poem:
Monday, December 28, 2015
Alan Catlin
A MOVABLE NIGHTCLUB
Rental documents for late night party
functions say: birthday party, family reunion,
anniversary surprise. Do not mention
open invitations for a few close acquaintances,
Facebook friends, Friends of Facebook friends...
All it takes for a fully operational wet bar is
a couple or three cases of booze, some mixers,
a few bags of ice, some disposable plastic cups,
a place to pile your stuff and you're good to go.
No need to check proof, provide security and all
the bullshit that goes with it.
Desperate-for-money restaurant owners, closed bars,
banquet spaces, don't ask obvious questions like
what time of night is this taking place as long as
it is after their own business closes. Licenses?
We don’t need no stinkin' licenses.
Hours of business are flexible: from well past
midnight to well any time after last call, as long as
the money for drinks holds out, or the first shooting,
whichever comes first. Not one manages to stay
open until daybreak.
Police suggest that the same people are involved
in the setups, the serial shootings, the unsolved
murders, shots fired, man down situations.
Word is out they have bolted town, now that arrests
are being made, cases assembled, witnesses interviewed.
One convicted defendant tries to make a case
that, somehow, the victim was responsible for
his death because he had two weapons on him,
was chief suspect in the unsolved Chinese restaurant
hip hop shooting, even though he never saw
the guy that took him down. The critically-
injured-by-the-same-bullet woman doesn't count.
The two life sentences he received make him
eligible for parole in 95 years when he is 125.
The hip hop murder remains an open case.
It’s four A.M. Do you know where
your parents are?
Gerald So reads "A Movable Nightclub":
Subscribe to Channel Five-Two for first view of new videos.
Alan confesses: "We have always lived in 'interesting neighborhoods'. The shootout referenced in the poem occurred one block from where we used to live, at a former Arthur Treacher's. Other unlikely scenes followed: Chinese restaurant hip hop party, Tip Toe Inn reopens for after hour party: one dead, another critical...Who could make this stuff up?"
ALAN CATLIN is the poetry editor of misfitmagazine.net. His next full length book of poems is Last Man Standing from Lummox Press
Rental documents for late night party
functions say: birthday party, family reunion,
anniversary surprise. Do not mention
open invitations for a few close acquaintances,
Facebook friends, Friends of Facebook friends...
All it takes for a fully operational wet bar is
a couple or three cases of booze, some mixers,
a few bags of ice, some disposable plastic cups,
a place to pile your stuff and you're good to go.
No need to check proof, provide security and all
the bullshit that goes with it.
Desperate-for-money restaurant owners, closed bars,
banquet spaces, don't ask obvious questions like
what time of night is this taking place as long as
it is after their own business closes. Licenses?
We don’t need no stinkin' licenses.
Hours of business are flexible: from well past
midnight to well any time after last call, as long as
the money for drinks holds out, or the first shooting,
whichever comes first. Not one manages to stay
open until daybreak.
Police suggest that the same people are involved
in the setups, the serial shootings, the unsolved
murders, shots fired, man down situations.
Word is out they have bolted town, now that arrests
are being made, cases assembled, witnesses interviewed.
One convicted defendant tries to make a case
that, somehow, the victim was responsible for
his death because he had two weapons on him,
was chief suspect in the unsolved Chinese restaurant
hip hop shooting, even though he never saw
the guy that took him down. The critically-
injured-by-the-same-bullet woman doesn't count.
The two life sentences he received make him
eligible for parole in 95 years when he is 125.
The hip hop murder remains an open case.
It’s four A.M. Do you know where
your parents are?
Gerald So reads "A Movable Nightclub":
Subscribe to Channel Five-Two for first view of new videos.
Alan confesses: "We have always lived in 'interesting neighborhoods'. The shootout referenced in the poem occurred one block from where we used to live, at a former Arthur Treacher's. Other unlikely scenes followed: Chinese restaurant hip hop party, Tip Toe Inn reopens for after hour party: one dead, another critical...Who could make this stuff up?"
ALAN CATLIN is the poetry editor of misfitmagazine.net. His next full length book of poems is Last Man Standing from Lummox Press
Monday, August 26, 2013
Alan Catlin
CRIME STORY
Locally, the Official Police
Story implied: the perp, now
the deceased, was a well-known
"crazy person", who,
on the day in question, had been
the subject of one police call
already, was observed to be
acting in an irrational manner
suggestive of intoxication or
drug use. A stern warning was
issued but several hours later,
yet another call from the same
address was recorded.
At the scene, the subject was
heard to be raving, crashing about
in his second-story apartment in
what could be described as a violent
manner. A backup call was issued
suggesting the subject might be
experiencing a psychotic break.
The first four officers on the scene conferred
and decided to initiate a two-pronged
assault, two officers approaching
from the stairway and two by
a window accessible from a rear-of
the-building fire escape. The officers
approaching by the front entrance
entered first by kicking in the door
with guns drawn while the other
officers climbed through the window
also with weapons drawn.
They encountered a "half-naked" from
the waist down, black man brandishing
what appeared to be a long-handled
knife and another large potential weapon.
The officers called out a cease-
and-desist warning, which was ignored
by the deceased who continued to act in
a threatening, irrational manner.
The officers then fired
repeatedly at the subject, causing his
death. In the subsequent investigation
and trial, verbal accounts and on-the-scene
evidence downgraded the subject's weapons:
to a BBQ-style long-handled knife
and fork, to a serrated kitchen knife and
large Tonka toy truck, to a house key and
miniature Hot Wheels car. All the officers
involved expressed remorse, much as
those who shot Amadou Diallo would
some years later in Emmy-worthy
performances. All the officers, in both
cases, were exonerated, though whether
the local cops took the judge out for dinner
after the trial, as New York's Finest did, is
unknown at this time.
Gerald So reads "Crime Story":
Subscribe to Channel Five-Two for first view of new videos.
Alan confesses: "I worked in a sort of neighborhood bar for over twenty years, one frequented by beat cops. Roughly half of them were cool guys who were my friends. The other half, not so cool. The point of view of the cop used in this poem is from one of the cops who remembered me from my, 'long-haired, hippie, college student days'. He didn't like me then and he doesn't like me now. As far as that cop was concerned this is a simple story: The guy was a persistent pain in the ass, an opportunity arose to take him out. Bang-bang, you're dead. End of story."
ALAN CATLIN has been publishing since the 1970s, from the mimeos to the Internet. His latest full length book of poetry is Alien Nation. He is working on another collection of thematically related poems under the title Beautiful Mutants.
Locally, the Official Police
Story implied: the perp, now
the deceased, was a well-known
"crazy person", who,
on the day in question, had been
the subject of one police call
already, was observed to be
acting in an irrational manner
suggestive of intoxication or
drug use. A stern warning was
issued but several hours later,
yet another call from the same
address was recorded.
At the scene, the subject was
heard to be raving, crashing about
in his second-story apartment in
what could be described as a violent
manner. A backup call was issued
suggesting the subject might be
experiencing a psychotic break.
The first four officers on the scene conferred
and decided to initiate a two-pronged
assault, two officers approaching
from the stairway and two by
a window accessible from a rear-of
the-building fire escape. The officers
approaching by the front entrance
entered first by kicking in the door
with guns drawn while the other
officers climbed through the window
also with weapons drawn.
They encountered a "half-naked" from
the waist down, black man brandishing
what appeared to be a long-handled
knife and another large potential weapon.
The officers called out a cease-
and-desist warning, which was ignored
by the deceased who continued to act in
a threatening, irrational manner.
The officers then fired
repeatedly at the subject, causing his
death. In the subsequent investigation
and trial, verbal accounts and on-the-scene
evidence downgraded the subject's weapons:
to a BBQ-style long-handled knife
and fork, to a serrated kitchen knife and
large Tonka toy truck, to a house key and
miniature Hot Wheels car. All the officers
involved expressed remorse, much as
those who shot Amadou Diallo would
some years later in Emmy-worthy
performances. All the officers, in both
cases, were exonerated, though whether
the local cops took the judge out for dinner
after the trial, as New York's Finest did, is
unknown at this time.
Gerald So reads "Crime Story":
Subscribe to Channel Five-Two for first view of new videos.
Alan confesses: "I worked in a sort of neighborhood bar for over twenty years, one frequented by beat cops. Roughly half of them were cool guys who were my friends. The other half, not so cool. The point of view of the cop used in this poem is from one of the cops who remembered me from my, 'long-haired, hippie, college student days'. He didn't like me then and he doesn't like me now. As far as that cop was concerned this is a simple story: The guy was a persistent pain in the ass, an opportunity arose to take him out. Bang-bang, you're dead. End of story."
ALAN CATLIN has been publishing since the 1970s, from the mimeos to the Internet. His latest full length book of poetry is Alien Nation. He is working on another collection of thematically related poems under the title Beautiful Mutants.
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