Poetry
from Maybe the Sweet Honey Pours
VOICE. maybe
the sweet honey
pours hi hat
awake tape loop 1
VOICE: (MAYBE THE SWEET HONEY POURS AWAKE)
1.
tape loop 1
one another
indoors
them not secure
love of world makes it
impossible
men whose hours are ours
because
sultry? lonely
whose life of Thoreau
often fooled
atoned, cold & happy
on the verge
the roads here dry cars scarce
train careens through city
worry about health insurance
worry about visa
worry about night class
truths? no such thing
after twenty three hours
on a train
convinced & giving
eyewitness testimony
to:
hi hat
"Have to pee...
in clean washroom."
VOICE. 2.
tape loop chan 3 +4
"three or four, or two or just
because of one bad experience"
suddenly QUIET
eyes ears teeth
family behind you vanishes
& now
Oakville
VOICE. 3. tape loop chan 3 +4
forced to keep dry drums
jacket a long pour
outside doesn't even blink
mahal ko, I am almost
like so
Toronto
VOICE. 4.
tape loop 1
Phife Dawg! bury drums
your head in sand
with me
take a boat ride
eat & rest at my place
please
heat of battle makes you trill
daze when happiness gathers
most of all
you don't recover fast
in an orange light
meanwhile, Ill face the night
turn each song to give up
bed
at night, hug you, cigarettes
snare regions like U.S.
dreaming of Buenos Aires
let you lead the tangle
"Cant go on!" "Come on!"
mosquitoes, no hemophiliac
laughter of Cheetos Tiger
who could slice your right ear
who is more like
Evita Peron
run far, truism, ruminant
regrets do kill, Phife
VOICE. (4.)
Dawg
I have none
drums
starting over maybe
has
many meanings
tape loop 1
VOICE. 5. AKLOKi TO THE FUTURE
drums
3- tape loop 1
2-
1-
what's it called?
microphone check
one two
what is this
its da backoo ookoo wackaa in de koyyyee
its da wackaa ookoo mookah in da koyyy
its da wacka acka mooka in da joo
keys blue line swinger
these three birds are
wacka ookoo mooka in de toyy
its da wacka ooka mooka in da one
& rabbit
in Elmo's arm
is da wacka ooka wooka mooka one
& we're back
with three birds
in Ernie's arms
what are they called
it's da wacka ooka wooka in da one
it's da wacka ooka mooka in da one
forty four
seconds
VOICE. 6.
keys blue line swinger
seventh prince goes on loving though he loses way
"Lies, Youth, Faith!"
Go on, slovenly, though all you do is feel
unbearable pain, not able to
move, plan, sleep
debilitate
VOICE. 7.
drums
keys blue line swinger
eighth wind I hear your voice
too bad phone's on roaming
who would want to leave you,
mahal ko
nine times the sun sinks into
Lies, Youth, Faith...Let's start over
dub it a pop song feel what memory
taking to writing poems for whose character
Tony's performance in Happy Together
suddenly forebodes
"& miss you, love"
stars in rain through Niagara
VOICE. 8.
keys blue line swinger
drums
tense
I can truly say
terse
everything heard
truce
Im okay cuz
nest
hitting end of our long road
in Unreal City
aboard train absorb bright lightning
Chrystal Falls
stop by Taipei order tofu
from "you'll never see me again"
to "you'll never catch me because"
drive off day after
leave passport on toilet rim
cough up offal
into tape
VOICE. (8.)
disabused jaundice
shatter beer bottles over
cleaner dishes for life
drain until blood spiral
into spray water across sunken floor
& shoulder water splash into keys tweak
tape loops chan 1+2
about-face
lean forward against rail
embrace
all ways to Iguazu
buy used car & pedal push
thereafter
loneliness in lies, youth, faith
VOICE. 9.
tape loop 4
I was thinking hi hat
anyway tape loop 3
keys horn-in
everything
you say
VOICE. 10.
abandoning mantle of lies, youth, faith keys horn-in
anguish where tape loop 4
I adore your stony lungs hi hat
top of red lighthouse tape loop 3
only you wish to bring wantonness to
singe this accept only lore that an
empty theater projecting porn
or man whose eyes slit behind you
halts cab that captures the corner
warrant song to a psalm gazing
into space of sleep depravity
loneliness of forest behind your eyes
force cigarette after cigarette pack
hoarse lover stalks Unreal City
trawling across abandoned room
lies, youth, faith—what about the planets
of light, YouTube, Fay Da Bakery
VOICE. 11.
keys horn-in
Is the cost tape loop 2
hi hat
bituminous hearth? tape loop 1
VOICE. 12.
but stay, Lies, Youth, Faith tape loop 1
know irony hi hat
time to put on suit
speak out of turn
trough beauty
blunt tooth
Contributor
Paolo JavierThe former Queens Borough Poet Laureate (2010–14), Paolo Javier was born in the Philippines and grew up in Las Piñas, Metro Manila; Katonah, Westchester County; El-Ma’adi, Cairo; Burnaby and North Delta, Metro Vancouver. He’s produced three albums of sound poetry with Listening Center (David Mason), including the limited edition pamphlet/cassette Ur’lyeh/ Aklopolis and the booklet/cassette Maybe the Sweet Honey Pours. The recipient of a 2021 Rauschenberg Foundation Artist Grant, Paolo Javier was a featured artist in Greater NY 2015 and Queens International 2018: Volumes. His fifth full-length book of poetry, O.B.B., a (weird postcolonial techno dream-pop) comics poem that also includes illustrations by Alex Tarampi and Ernest Concepcion, has just been published by Nightboat Books. He lives with his family in Queens.
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The former Queens Borough Poet Laureate (2010–14), Paolo Javier was born in the Philippines and grew up in Las Piñas, Metro Manila; Katonah, Westchester County; El-Ma’adi, Cairo; Burnaby and North Delta, Metro Vancouver. He’s produced three albums of sound poetry with Listening Center (David Mason), including the limited edition pamphlet/cassette Ur’lyeh/ Aklopolis and the booklet/cassette Maybe the Sweet Honey Pours. The recipient of a 2021 Rauschenberg Foundation Artist Grant, Paolo Javier was a featured artist in Greater NY 2015 and Queens International 2018: Volumes. His fifth full-length book of poetry, O.B.B., a (weird postcolonial techno dream-pop) comics poem that also includes illustrations by Alex Tarampi and Ernest Concepcion, has just been published by Nightboat Books. He lives with his family in Queens.