DEC 21-JAN 22

All Issues

DEC 21-JAN 22 Issue

Poetry

Blah-ment

DEC 21-JAN 22

By Eileen Myles

What is

a de

Blasio

does it

have paws

and extend

its wavy

grey locks

up into

the clouds

does it fall

across

the land

in protest

of bipedality

grinding

its loins

into the

soil and

growing things

giving

its lust

& the pressure

of its gravity

to the torn

and fragrant

surface of

the earth

does it

know it. Does

it put

its cheek

against

this smell

does it wedge

its toes

slowly & faithfully

into the ground

while singing

with its

chapped

and pursed

lips bellowing

and whispering

comrade

lines to

the crawling

beetles

inspected

dutifully

by a bird

a desultory

chip

received

cheerfully

by de Blasio

god’s invention

what is a

DeBlasio

man

or planet

nail or

grommet

hammer

or man. I know

what a de Blasio

is. It’s

a saturated

fog helplessly

seeding

by international

funds

are funds

found

are they

bund

like together

are they

bundles

wishes

why does

a DeBlasio

absorb

them so well

if it

was a fallen

thing

man

a gravy

headed

saint

but no his

matrix

has become

permeable

actually

valuable

to the inter

national

piggy

bank

of intention

ality

don’t feel

the land

how are

you feeling

Bill

I don’t

feel it.

Did they

name

you Bill

so you

could simply

be raw

data

that surrounds

for instance

an instance

of land

long land

along

the river

not my

fair

whose share

is the

land

damn

man

is de Blasio

a man

or outline

of 50 acres

of playing

fields

and trees

nets and

buildings from WPA

with that

quirky

square

ancient

colored

way of holding

time a

building

a clock

of public

time. When

1939. My

tree accepts

my body

oddly

the park

accepts

the buildings

does a de Blasio

a bribe

a scrap

of bread

you give

a beggar

it’s the opposite

of repulse

how do we

repulse

a de Blasio

from our

park and our

city as the foam

settles

on the writhing

stretch

of trees

grass

trail

east river

park

we sit

to your

mayoral

perch

de Blasio

a fish

de Blasio

mayor

factual

man

who drops

his bland

hand

on a map

his palm

on the

tiny abstract

stretch

from Montgomery

to 23^rd

his foot

I believe

has not

even set on

our native

park

site of the slaughter

by Willem Kieft

of the lenapehoking

asleep in their

tents

was I born

here am

I native

nah. I nah

native. de Blah

sio

was born

here so

he can break

it. He can

open his

mouth &

suck up

the juices

of the river

pretty clean

now where dolphins

dance he can

eat the

park

cause he’s

native yah native

trees drooling

down his

lips

bumble bees

pouring out

of his nostrils

ground-nesting

golden northern

bumble bee

(Bombus fervidus)

rare right

out of DeBlasio

nose, NY State

critically

imperilled

high priority species

of Greatest Conservation

need bleeding

out of de Blasio

nose nose. A de Blasio

can go to Soho Noho

and chinatown

rezoning a 56 block stretch

ahhh good stretch for him

for a huge increase

de Blasio likes a

huge increase

in density

with mega chain stores

he wears mega chains

on his ankle and

nose he goes

to inwood he lie

down a 59 block

low rise area

he scratches his

hips on it

community

outcry ow ow

to allow even

30 story building

de Blasio allow

oh oh

Elizabeth Street garden

he’s circumventing legal

process he’s dancing

around to make

the block available

for development

to grow tits

and hips

and body hair

develop-lament

develop-plament

oh yeah oh oh

St. Felix street

BAM yow 130

unit sky scraper

back scratcher

on a de Blasio

which is

tall, did you know

a de Blasio is tall

tall, there ow

use that building

tall, good

gowan us

go wan is mine

de Blasio go

82 block rezoning

for a low lying

low lying

what’s more low lying

that a DeBlasio

EPA labelled

toxic. Toxic?

what’s that

like a soda

toxic pop

toxic develop

lament pop

oh yeah

go wan is mine

it’s my pop

governor’s island

he can just step

across from

Battery he’s so

tall a de Blasio is

right across

from Buttermilk channel

in Brooklyn

yum he drinks this

a de Blasio does

Bill loves public

land he thinks it’s pubic

33 acres to be made

into a glass tower

a living laboratory

for killing trees

yum

River ring

de Blasio calling

he flings his frosty

arms and fingers across

to Williamsburg & grabs

that land too

Land is his

this is my de blah ment

this is my de blah mento

de blah mento

O when will de Blah sio go

He likes his buildings nothing more

he can’t sell our city any more

cause that’s the way things are

Here’s a dollar in my hand

it makes DeBlasio steal our land

He’s got no poem he’s got no band

so why does he get to steal our land

he lies and lies and lies

de blah mento:

O when will de Blah sio go¹

He likes his buildings nothing more

he can’t sell our city any more

cause that’s the way things are

Here’s a dollar in my hand

it makes DeBlasio steal our land

He’s got no poem he’s got no band

so why does he get to steal our land

he lies and lies and lies

To the tune of Eric Anderson’s “Bumble Bee”: https://youtu.be/XWvlnRr0dgY