TRICIA WARDEN
today tricia warden has found out that using standard pliers in lieu of tweezers to pull out nipple hairs is not as easy as it looks. brainlift and attack god inside are books of poetry, short fiction, and art (2.13.61 publications in USA & UK) that she wrote. reasonable offer refused (poetry and a play) and death is hereditary (short fiction) are new completed works. death is hereditary will be published in 2004 on eskmo press, moscow, russia. another volume of her choicest materials entitled, redecorating the cell, will be published by pine slopes press, south africa by the ever patient aryan kaganof. warden was born in jersey city, nj. she grew up in union city, nj- which then boasted to be the most highly densely populated city in the world per cubic inch. beat that bombay. went to nyu for a year, couldn't afford it, lived by her wits on other people's couches and floors, wrote a fuckload, decided to continue educating herself, got published, danced through personal and social turmoil, lived in jersey city again for about 10 years, mostly with joe her partner in crime and bad jokes, they had a fire a few years back but still likes to collect stuff, go figure. she has been living in montclair, nj for the past two years, the trees are nice and someone only threw rocks at her once so she thinks it's all right. she has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies, notably: longshot, ny press, purr (uk), wide angle, bust, dick for a day (villard, this title was on the boston globe's bestseller list and was published in 3 countries), bust guide to new world order (penguin, usa), best of 2.13.61 (2.13.61), revival: writers of lollapalooza (manic d). her writing was used in the film shambondama elegy by ian kerkhof, a film which won the golden calf special jury prize at the grand prix of dutch cinema. she is also a spoken word performer and has performed with many damn cool folks: hubert selby jr., john cale, ntozake shange, ed sanders, jack womack, exene cervenka, henry rollins, don bajema, blixa bargeld, mark e smith, and michael gira among others. she is also the voice behind the audio edition of jack womack's random acts of senseless violence (a new york times notable book). there are actually a few colleges that have put her work on their curriculum. she has had three bands, liarface, clot, and vagina dentata and is in the process of forming another. she is also the editor of an online arts magazine, digitalhammer.com and is also chipping away 2 novels, and another book of poetry. she writes in lowercase because of a certain dislike of the shift button and not from a strange e.e. cummings fixation. she thinks sausage although gross is quite tasty.
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SOME PEOPLE
a.
i woke up my mouth was dry. i needed coffee, didn't have any.
thought about a hot-buttered roll like a perv looking at a grade school girl. the sun was a misery. forgot to buy blinds again. thought about taping a garbage bag to the window sill-blot out the sun like god's thumb.
b.
never thought i'd get used to sleeping on the floor. but now i am not so surprised what a human can get used to. floorboards and termites are nothing. it's nice to have a floor, outside dirt gets in your teeth.
c.
i do things i hate all day long and no one stops me. people ask me how i am and i say, fine, because they don't really want to know, it's just another, nice weather we're having comment as if our conversations have stooped to rhetorical questions instead of give and take. hey, did you see that show last night? that guy/girl was funny wasn't she/he?
my bones are made of plastic my teeth are not real. sometimes i feel like doing a handstand on the subway, but i've never done a handstand before.
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YOU'RE CHILDHOOD HOME, APARTMENT, CUBICLE
CAN NOW FIT IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND
is anyone home?
they're too small-
have ears like microbes
tongues like fleas
there's a house
with a white picket fence
and blood on the floor
scars stitched in the skin
like zippers on the backs of dolls
they can't see it
if you cover it up-
wear long sleeves,
turtlenecks,
coats in the summer,
beads,
eyeshadow,
the head of a goat....
turn the music up
they can't hear you panting
it feels warm
after you've been hit
curled up on the bed
nails like a dog
scratching to get out
knock on the pipes, she says
and i will hear you
but it's much worse
when she listens
it's love like a torn shoe
in the desert
it's love like a mouse hole
under the bed
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FOSTER CARE IS FOR SISSIES
maybe your wound and my wound
can get together sometime
we'll leave them at the daycare
cowering beneath a colorful alphabet
and dance off like bad mothers
who wish their kids were never born
we'll eat ice cream without them
as our hair whips in the wind
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ARMAGEDDON CROSSWORD TROPHY
my heart is a shell
with a dead bird inside
when your hair and nails
grow without you
there are no beauty parlors in heaven
no clouds to sit on, no harps to pluck
please jesus
don't let the bogey man get me
i'll do whatever you want
see my magic amulet?
i can do a dance
sacrifice the virgin
obey the volcano
the fear is a newsman
his teeth are guns that whisper:
wrap the world in newspaper
see if it can breathe
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NEW JERSEY X-RAY VISION TRUCKSTOP WHORE
fifty-three people forget what they are thinking and they are thinking about god.
four kids kick another kid because his pants are unfashionable. his mother is a crackhead with a broken tooth. he survives on mayonnaise sandwiches and hope. hope like mayonnaise has no nutritional value.
women open fish in a sweat shop. fuscia guts slap against each other in a slimy metal can. they know more than you do. they are invisible.
waterbugs plan attacks on fat-suburban housewives with weak hearts and press-on nails. their husbands eat fried chicken and watch japanese porn with their girlfriends.
clouds slide into town like angry ghosts pregnant with rain. they bust cum shots on the unemployed while the wealthy sigh behind stained glass windows and die of boredom.
people worship guns, movie stars, and a new 10 day cabbage diet. they'll pay for god if you charge them.
on the highway: jackknives, jigsaws, plastic forks, a broken xylophone, a hooker with fists of gold.
a rape in the schoolyard, a death in a fishbowl, blood on the avenue.
hard-ons weep. women scream. put more film in the camera.
lights are changing.
the guards are laughing.
shoe laces are caught. fat lips follows the dollar. our string is strong.
our hearts are mean.
a first kiss unties in the back of a car, beside a 2 tree park that stinks of piss. a day she'll always remember. a smell that does not wash out.
your mother told you to never go. but you went and had fun for awhile. no one told you that you would bleed to death. would you have believed them if they had?
mascara carves black roads down your face. he says you are beautiful when you cry. you should run, but you don't.
mountains of tires burn. i don't like living here.
no one cares about the 2 year olds, they are appetizers for the cruel.
junk twists on the spoon and groans like sperm fried on a hot plate.
at the crime scene policemen adjust their crotches, their pistols cocked for the amusement of children and other virgins.
i have ten bucks, what do you got?
no one saw anything. no one ever sees anything around here. not if they want to live longer. not that that's long any how.
you are warm beneath the green blanket. i smile when i see you. i kiss your mouth when i am lucky.