Four Paintings

3

More Lou Reed

Tonight! (11.3.16)

Soup (Pink)

Shoe (Purple)

Plate (Yellow)

Car (Pink)

Two Horses

Todd Colby on Know Wave at Picture Room

Here's the show I did at Picture Room for Know Wave on October 16, 2016. Sit back, relax, and let the poems flow from your speakers. XO

24 Stickers

November 3rd!

Four

September

To the day! And yet all

The particulars add up

to what will disappear



Lifting a soft target

into the air just enough

to see that it isn't there



Early risers mourn

the end of sleep

and the beginning of dumb stuff



Miss a stop while

the ruby pen

bungles a crossword



Somewhere orchards rot

while the canticles of ecstasy

become a sanguine mop



Further than a fever

warmer than a body-

still I go to work


Forget the dodgy bits for a minute

and notice the sun

as you hyperventilate



Something just isn't right

about the day, what with its

compete determination and mine



Someday I'll walk away

and every time I do something

it will be the for last time

Punishment Sweater

What a day does
is get on your nerves.
With an act of leisure
there is nothing to be gained
without a celebration of labor.
You self-litter for the paddle
against your heart. Anyone can
be an obnoxious moron. Everything is good
and clear and iffy. Your clothes
fit better in the dark. No one
does the future better than
the future does you. Work at getting
a good feeling about today's machines.
I promise I'll get a better grip,
tone down the piercing voice, and hop
over to the grey area.
I will not bring us down. Getting better
at pleasure is nothing to write home about.
Sit back and react.

A Little Advice

Wash your hands
after doing a handstand
in a hotel room
because studies have shown
there are more than 3 cups
of dried human skin flakes
in most hotel carpets.

Nine

Three Poems and Dance from 1996

Earth Spritz

Earth needs a spritz.
Everyone is spastic
and drips.
Gold bars turn mealy
and diamonds become
spreadable as butter
in a tub.
Let me off
at the next stop.

Oh Tulip

Poem

Light rain in White Plains.
The doberman responds to French commands.
Out on the street people are glazed.
All I need is a bed with a pillow
and some nature show about the Arctic.
Have you ever seen Mick Jagger weep?
Me neither.
A sense of the weather
being very present and authentic.
Tumble in the grass
next to the Hudson River
during lunch.
Think about it:
Someone is waking up
next to the ocean
feeling all smug
that they can get away
from something.
On 10th Avenue
I do not abide by that,
I eat peanut butter and jelly
and lift the gates
to show I'm open.

Reading at the Dia Foundation with Bobby Bird, 2015

Three

Subject of a Song

There might be a way out,
I conclude. My shirt is still damp
from New York's soupy streets.
The Fedex man and me
are both at work, so there's that.
On 10th Avenue
a Great Dane slobbers
on a little girl's arm.
Rain falls, or doesn't.
The sun shines, or makes
a beeline to the exit,
which is only a form
of revolution. You can bank
on change, loosen your boots,
strain for the plug, but you'll always
and only be a dumb nugget of woes
making plans you may not see through.

To Name a Thing

I play Germs in the store
before anyone shows up.
The air is so thick that when
I walk through it
it ripples like a pool of jello.
A body does work, gets
rest, props itself
up on the bed, walks
by putting one foot
in front of the other,
stands around, mopes
with hunched shoulders,
feels too warm, and then too cold.
Generally a body acts
like a pain in the ass.
Go to work to pay the rent
so the body has somewhere
to sleep and put all its stuff.
When you break it down like that
why not sit by the river all day
with a bag of ginger biscuits?

How to Hike

A certain lack of civility
matched the day perfectly. I was most funny
when I wasn't trying to be. Sometimes I think
I'm dying and I am. 143 likes.
In many cases I don't know anything.
Meanwhile a heat dome is the beginning
of the end of something good.
A hollow reverb sound is coming from
the air conditioner. Caving in
is better than being above reproach.
The darkest, saddest, hottest summer
is halfway over. The sun dips
behind the High Line at a new angle.
More coffee solves nothing. A corpse
flower blooms once every 9 years.
Free sunlight. Free water. Fresh orange
paint on the side of that hulk
of a building. Deep into a sold out day.

Three