How to Give a Poetry Reading
1. The heart is a newspaper with limited circulation.
2. Today I drew the curtains and the sun exploded.
3. Sometimes, this life is unapproachable.
4. Make the supernatural appear supernatural.
5. This is not a game. There are lives at stake.
6. The mailman means you harm. That friendly smile.
7. Thank the curator by toasting an invisible mimosa.
8. Fill up on complimentary bread.
9. Inside your tooth realize there are years of repressed desires.
10. The heart is a mother grieving A cosmopolitan fly
trying to pass through a double-paned window
11. List every song by Neutral Milk Hotel in autobiographical order.
12. Read tea leaves, wind speeds of varying colors.
13. Establish a routine.
14. Step up to the free throw line Dribble the ball
three times Go around the back three times
with a circular motion Take a dramatic tension-
draining breath Shoot the ball with perfect form
as demonstrated in the instructional video
15. DO NOT MISS.
16. Show up.
17. Show up with drunk, but pilote, inaudible slurring.
18. Today the sun learned that it is a magnifying glass.
19. The sun passses itself through itself to burn.
20. Pretend every person in the audience
is simply there
Posted 10/05/13