Poems Like Jackson Mac Low
I sent them poems written
like Jackson Mac Low.
They sent back an uppity
note, telling me I was
imitating Jackson Mac Low.
I could have told them that
if they’d only asked.
I sent them poems written
like e.e. cummings, written like Baraka
when he was still LeRoi Jones,
written like Bukowski
when he was still a
middle-aged angry man, written
like Kenneth Patchen
when he could still walk.
Their rejection notes come back as fast as
my poems go out.
So, I sent them the unwritten John Milton
poems, composed in his head a few days
after he went stone blind.
The chicken shits never sent back
a word about those.
_
Doug Draime (1943-2015) emerged as a presence in the 'underground' literary movement in the late1960's in Los Angeles, California. A Senior Literary Editor for The Commonline Journal, Draime's books include: Knox County (Kendra Steiner Editions) and Los Angeles Terminal (Covert Press), Boulevards Of Oblivion (Tainted Coffee Press), Farrago Soup (Coatlism Press), and More Than The Alley (Interior Noise Press). Draime was awarded PEN grants in 1987 and 1992. Born in Vincennes, Indiana, Draime lived in the foothills of Oregon since the early 1980's until his death in 2015.
I sent them poems written
like Jackson Mac Low.
They sent back an uppity
note, telling me I was
imitating Jackson Mac Low.
I could have told them that
if they’d only asked.
I sent them poems written
like e.e. cummings, written like Baraka
when he was still LeRoi Jones,
written like Bukowski
when he was still a
middle-aged angry man, written
like Kenneth Patchen
when he could still walk.
Their rejection notes come back as fast as
my poems go out.
So, I sent them the unwritten John Milton
poems, composed in his head a few days
after he went stone blind.
The chicken shits never sent back
a word about those.
_
Doug Draime (1943-2015) emerged as a presence in the 'underground' literary movement in the late1960's in Los Angeles, California. A Senior Literary Editor for The Commonline Journal, Draime's books include: Knox County (Kendra Steiner Editions) and Los Angeles Terminal (Covert Press), Boulevards Of Oblivion (Tainted Coffee Press), Farrago Soup (Coatlism Press), and More Than The Alley (Interior Noise Press). Draime was awarded PEN grants in 1987 and 1992. Born in Vincennes, Indiana, Draime lived in the foothills of Oregon since the early 1980's until his death in 2015.
