Chad Parenteau

CUTTING ROOM FLOOR

Someday, maybe
in a country
that lets people
criticize other
countries openly,
there will be
a film featuring
the next Jesse
Eisenberg-type
as a wretched
tech bro with our
Social Security
numbers in a
flash drive mixing
in his pocket
full of Gold Cards
pre-paid in full
for future Trump
voters. We'll get
to witness his
Zack Snyder-style
slo-mo beating
to millions cheering.
But now, future
cheerers, disciples
ready to renounce
their lord on one
half-click of the rack,
with a lack of
irony that burns
film, they scream
Have they killed
Big Balls? Please
tell us Big Balls
is alive! What
in God’s name
happened to Big Balls?


Chad's YouTube reading of "Cutting Room Floor"


Chad confesses: This is my anti-ode for former DOGE employee Edward "Big Balls" Coristine, who was beaten for the sins of his overlords in 2025. This was very cathartic for me, if only momentarily. Save us from dudebros who may never understand the horrible ramifications of their actions.

Chad Parenteau hosts Boston’s long-running Stone Soup Poetry series. His work has appeared in journals such as Résonancee, Molecule, Ibbetson Street, Pocket Lint, Cape Cod Poetry Review, Tell-Tale Inklings, Off The Coast, The Crossroads, The Skinny Poetry Journal, The Rye Whiskey Review, dadakuku, Nixes Mate Review, and The Ugly Monster. He has also been published in anthologies such as French Connections, Sounds of Wind, Reimagine America, and The Vagabond Lunar Collection. His newest collections are All's Well Isn't You and Cant Republic: Erasures and Blackouts. He serves as Associate Editor of the online journal Oddball Magazine and co-organizer of the annual Boston Poetry Marathon. He lives and works in Boston.

Chad Parenteau

RUDY GIULIANI MUTTERS DURING HIS LAST RITES

If I could get
building-big
like I did for
that Time Man
of the Year cover,
I could finally
get a look at
Lady Liberty’s
underpants.
That’s the one
problem being
an inside man.
No more time to
grope underneath.
I’m not finished
yet. I just want
to stay around
and do one last
act, something
only I can do
to changes lives
forever. Good
bad, does that
matter anymore?
Just give me
one last clasp
to undo before
they undo unto me.


Chad's YouTube reading of "Rudy Giuliani Mutters..."


Chad confesses: "This is my newest poem about Rudy. I’ve become obsessed with his legacy, which took less than two decades to completely shatter when it seemed like 9/11 made him forever untouchable. I don't we don't have to wait another twenty years for the rest of the gold-plated calves to collapse."

CHAD PARENTEAU hosts Boston’s long-running Stone Soup Poetry series. His work has appeared in journals such as Résonancee, Molecule, Ibbetson Street, Pocket Lint, Cape Cod Poetry Review, Tell-Tale Inklings, Off The Coast, The Crossroads, The Skinny Poetry Journal, The Rye Whiskey Review, dadakuku, Nixes Mate Review, and The Ugly Monster. He has also been published in anthologies such as French Connections, Sounds of Wind, Reimagine America, and The Vagabond Lunar Collection. His newest collections are All's Well Isn't You and Cant Republic: Erasures and Blackouts. He serves as Associate Editor of the online journal Oddball Magazine and co-organizer of the annual Boston Poetry Marathon. He lives and works in Boston.