Dallas Clayton Writer, Artist and Author of An Awesome Book.

UPON RETURNING TO THE HARDCORE SHOW

I am towed under
by a wave
of small dangerous bodies
forged from a collective evil
puffed up and buzzing with energy
mottled like a hornet’s nest
and equally frail in practice.

I feel in an instant
like the happiest man alive
like a victor, bathed sunshine
and blanketed by rainbows.

I am no longer screaming
no longer flailing
I am still
and I am thankful
and haven’t for sometime
heard a song
that moved me
to punch someone in the neck.

POLYGRAPH

I read a study
regarding our ability to lie
and how it showcases an accelerated aptitude
the younger it takes hold.

Children who lie and get away with it
are rewarded as they lie with a direct goal in mind.
Children who lie and don’t get away with it
are punished
and learn to lie better and more effectively next time.

Thus we are left to raise a flock
of fast-paced liars
rewarded every time they fleece and honest soul.

The questions not asked in this study :
Why do we surround our children
with goals worth lying for?
And moreover, why do they feel their
role models are worth deceiving?

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About this blog… I’m sorry I haven’t been hanging out here as much as I could be. It’s summer and I’ve been doing a lot of good life-living. That said I wanted to let you all know that I will be revamping this site shortly with all sorts of new additions in preparation for release of a new book in October. Also apparently if you get to this site via Google there is a reoccurring pharma-hack (look that up, why don’t you) that makes it appear as if dallasclayton.com is a good place to purchase discount Viagra. Been trying to flush out that hack but it is a slow and steady process, meanwhile if you would like to purchase discount Viagra… my deepest apologies. Perhaps a poem will do the trick.

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REFRESH

Today I used the internet
to buy a dozen babies
and send them off to various countries
which are lacking in babies.

It was part of a contest
Pepsi had put together.

I think they will use the babies
To help with crops and things.
I don’t know, really
I was on the phone with AT&T
and only half paying attention.

WATER PARK

If I could take the terrorists anywhere
it would be to Raging Waters.
Mile upon mile of tube slides
and wave pools
lazy rivers
and simulated surf breaks
that roll on infinitely, middle finger to the moon.

It’s the perfect place
for mankind to realize just how far we’ve come,
and how well we’ve managed
to take our excess to such overwhelmingly disgusting
but undeniably stimulating levels.

It wouldn’t help our case any
(American overindulgence, half-naked teens, foods fried inside other foods, etc.)

But perhaps, after going head over heels
in the Vortex it would help them understand
just how tempting an all day pass can seem
when it’s a hundred and five degrees
and you’re stuck in the valley on a three day weekend.

DIVINE

They met in a hurricane
in the depths of a flood
as row houses crumbled
and trees were uprooted.

They huddled together
and took strength
in the idea
that they’d somehow been chosen
while the only world that they knew
folded on top of itself
and was washed away forever.

BLACK CAT

As they stood holding hands
watching fireworks explode out over the waves
each silently considered the show
as a metaphor for all that life had become.

He: Loud and colorful
and bustling with strange patterns
and beautiful innovation.

She: An unavoidable spectacle charging top speed out of darkness
begging your total attention
and gone just as quickly as you think you’ve got it figured out.

MOVERS

The piano mover she found online
hopped out of the front seat
shirtless and sweating
under a mop of long springy hair
worn in a style
that was once common with the least popular member
of a moderately successful thrash band.

He said nothing to her
as he headed for the garage
his less pronounced college-aged best friend following close behind.

They moved with an inborn attitude that seemed to say
“We had no plans whatsoever for this or any other day
and were honestly just sitting around in my mother’s basement
smoking weed
when the phone rang.”

The only tools they brought for the job besides a pickup truck
which they parked on the sidewalk
were a plank of wood
and a movers dolly
that appeared neither to fit
nor function properly
for any task related to hauling anything larger than a television set across a living room.

When questioned about this they claimed they had used it to move “bajillions of pianos.”

Jolting and scratching it toward the house
they made quick work of her old upright.

“ How did you get into piano moving ?”
She asked.
Without pause or irony he answered
“I’m really into weight lifting,
so I wanted to lift heavy stuff
and pianos were the heaviest things I could find.”

After delivering the dusty instrument safely to the living room
They fit the new legs with popsicle stick shims and gorilla glue
to keep from wobbling.

She asked if he felt it was sturdy.

“Oh yeah,”
He answered.

“I could stand on top of it playing guitar if I wanted to… just like Slash.”

PEAK/VALLEY

balloon

PEAK/VALLEY

He’d peaked at age nine and he knew it.
Things were glorious then.
With his body and his mind working as one
his popularity was at an all time high.
He knew everyone important by first name.
And on a good day he was the second fastest in his class.
His parents were together still.
He hadn’t yet shaved, bought deodorant,
or been told exactly how babies were made.
He knew no difference between rich and poor.
He had no job,
and as many hobbies as you could fit into a summer.

He was perfect at age nine, he figured.
And so he would spend the next seventy -three years
sitting in his attic
trying to write a book
about how good it felt.

THESPIAN

jenga

THESPIAN

I’ve started an acting class.
We meet at a theater on Wednesday nights and play Jenga.
Well, we act like we are going to play Jenga.
But then everyone just comes up with excuses
as to why they can’t make it.

The person with the most believable excuse
is the best actor
and the person who wins at Jenga
is the worst.

It costs $400 per month.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

The others might not know
because they can’t actually hear it
but all the songs she plays
are about you…

Even when they aren’t.

PAGES

xd1

PAGES

The perfect days arrive
like so many chapters
that you didn’t anticipate -
with a call from a old friend you only answered
to make sure everything was alright back east,
a visit by a curious stranger
weighed down by an even more curious burden,
or with a challenge set forth that you could never refuse
because you are just as
confident in your own fate
as any other fool-hearty protagonist
charging,
eyes closed,
chest out,
into the unwritten story of his life.

KIDS SONGS

piano

KIDS SONGS

Driving in the car with a seven year old
listening to “What’s Going On”
the lyrics puzzle him
so I explain the idea -
We have to find a way to be nicer to each other,
rather than fighting, and killing people.
“This singer is good.”
He asks his name.
“Marvin Gaye” I tell him.
“How old is he?”
“He’s not alive anymore.”
“How did he die?”
I take a moment to think over the details of Marvin Gaye’s untimely passing.
“He was shot.” I say.

His seven year old brain
takes this in even stride and replies
“That’s sad…
The person who shot him must not have listened to his song.”

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