content warning: this poem contains mentions of extremist ideology
UPON AN UNEXPECTED GRAFFITO
​
Jacob Walhout
PROCESS
Just to riff and spin around
No wonder
The pixar lamp
but bent up
like an animal
caught in the act
Blasted microphones
find strange glee
in me
#QANON scrawled on a paper towel dispenser
Pert (jaunty, neat, chic, trim, stylish, smart, perky, rakish, natty, sassy)
means not even close to what I thought
I get balled up sometimes
No chunter
As in the feeling
of clenching
when I play Vivaldi wrong and dad yells
I’ll get bald up sometime
My worst somatic horror
is teeth or fingernails
Swung nonstop
between bleeding out on the page and
starving it until it
gives me sympathy
Like the swing between
teeth or fingernails
growing where
they should not
As in the feeling of
flapped palm skin
when I play Beethoven wrong and dad yells
Bad commercials
find strange bees
in me
The pixar lamp
but straight backed
like an animal
on a spit
I get tensed up
sometimes frozen
#QANON dragged across a toilet seat
Just to laugh and
pin a sound
No luster
The pixar lamp
but lubed up
like a wheel
after grousing in the cold
Aux cords
find strange few
in you
#QANON stamped on branded toilet paper
Great (prominent, eminent, important, distinguished, illustrious, celebrated, honored, acclaimed,
admired, esteemed, revered, renowned, notable, famous, famed, well known, leading, top, major, principal, first-rate, matchless, peerless, star)
means not even close to what I thought
​
I get shawled up sometimes
No worries
As in the feeling of
utter failure
when you play Tchaikovsky wrong and I yell
I’ll get hauled off sometime
My deepest chemical horror
is eternity and myself
are eternity and myself
Hung nonstop
between pledging allegiance to the page and
waterboarding it until
it leaks information
Like the hung between
plants or animals
dying where
they should not
As in the feeling of
getting punched by a punching bag
when you play Dvorak wrong and I yell
Bad art
makes strange pleas
of me
The pixar lamp
but eyeless weeping
like Polyphemus
pink CGI water
I get dressed up
sometimes and
starched
#QANON forced through a small hole
Jacob Walhout