{"id":888,"date":"2016-07-19T01:58:37","date_gmt":"2016-07-19T01:58:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/staging\/?p=888"},"modified":"2026-05-28T23:04:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T23:04:19","slug":"bart-j-g-bruijnen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue22\/bart-j-g-bruijnen\/","title":{"rendered":"Bart J.G. Bruijnen"},"content":{"rendered":"

1,2,3 Poems <\/strong><\/h3>\n

One<\/h3>\n

Hear, the props here they\u2019re all wrong
\nAnd I\u2019m possessed or I am cursed
\nBut I got you in my scene
\nSay, my mattress it is hunger
\nMy blanket it is thirst
\nYou lie so sweetly in between<\/p>\n

Look, there was a day I changed
\nAnd it was measured, it was noted
\nBut the fall back made them blind
\nRaise, you five o\u2019clock shade!
\nLet\u2019s take the pleasure double coated
\nAnd leave our spines far behind
\nAnd I\u2019m swimming out\u2026<\/p>\n

But, the writing all might be done
\nReturning soon to our known hive
\nPredictability rules!
\nBut, the old jokes: far more fun
\nI\u2019m a cartoon, I\u2019m not alive
\nAnd my mould was one of fools
\nAnd I\u2019m swimmin\u2019 out to drown an ounce of clouds
\nI need a chemical decision
\nA chemical decision
\nYou will need one soon\u2026
\nLook, it\u2019s a full moon!<\/p>\n

Two<\/h3>\n

I need my first commandment first
\nBefore I thrill and do my worst
\nI\u2019m lying here
\nIn my old favorite you
\nI had to spill my cup of thirst
\nMy dream it wouldn\u2019t have me nursed
\nIt burst in red and then went into blue<\/p>\n

My life is an absorbing bin
\nJust put more of that litter in
\nYou\u2019re feeding me
\nBut I don\u2019t taste the peach
\nToday was like it\u2019s always been
\nThe wonder it is in the sin
\nI\u2019m picking up the thing I cannot reach<\/p>\n

Who told you what the others dare?
\nI think mostly they are unaware
\nYou\u2019re laughing now
\nAnd painting me a face
\nI went up just to get some air
\nYou told me you were never there
\nAnd you precisely said the time and place<\/p>\n

Those people here, o, they\u2019re afraid
\nThey think their beds will soon be made
\nI\u2019m watching here
\nAt my old favorite you
\nI had to pass the butcher\u2019s gate
\nHe made his joke and made me wait
\nBut finally my patience got me through<\/p>\n

Three<\/h3>\n

So they have closed down your Kindergarten
\nAnd you didn\u2019t even open your invitation
\nYou sat at home with your penicillin addiction
\nTo avoid the grand narratives of your generation<\/p>\n

You used to mess up every slippage of meaning
\nEvery gesture of dissent you gave two shadows of doubt
\nSunday morning take it as a Friday evening
\nStay in and take your Stockholm syndrome out<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time you go and pinball your way back home
\nIf you\u2019re honest there weren\u2019t that many prizes
\nThere\u2019s nothing but a breeze in your thunderdome
\nIt\u2019s just sad in all its many guises<\/p>\n

Now take your zoot suit and your glad rags off
\nYou should be oh so gentle to Veraguth\u2019s fold
\nAnd you can hide your breathing, but not your cough
\nYou\u2019re old, it\u2019s not just something you\u2019ve been told<\/p>\n

And you\u2019re always trying to free Angela Davis again
\nWhile the discounts have all been withdrawn
\nYou\u2019re waving the memories of your flags
\nBut your pigtailed girlfriend has gone
\n(Your pigtailed girlfriend has gone\u2026)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1,2,3 Poems <\/strong>
\nHear, the props here they\u2019re all wrong
\nAnd I\u2019m possessed or I am cursed
\nBut I got you in my scene
\nSay, my mattress it is hunger
\nMy blanket it is thirst
\nYou lie so sweetly in between<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2153,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2154,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions\/2154"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue22\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}