Where is Martin Van Buren
now that America needs him?
(glaring up from a creek
bed in Novato California)
a Marin Van Buren frottage!
© 2024 by bob plainwilder
a Martin Van Buren frottage, part I
////a Martin Van Buren frottage, part II
//
(Where is Martin Van Buren, now that America needs him?)
when Martin Van Buren appears
we give a toot.
we are the only duly recognized
Martin Van Buren authority.
we’ve learned well from history
what would Van Buren wear?
what would Van Buren say?
what made V.B. presidential?
the Martin Van Buren look.
the Martin Van Buren way.
Martin Van Buren’s greatest hits —
a Martin Van Buren frottage!
Martin Van Buren’s hairline
evoked his life and time
his bulbous nose and pointed chin
the world might never see again…
a Martin Van Buren frottage!
© 2024 by bob plainwilder
Edward Hopper appliquè
//
film star Dennis this is not
Edward Hopper appliquè
his deep sea dive brush play
pulsing light and shadow blodgets
over diners in Chop Suey
from that place and time he teased
a marmelade kablooey
gruffly puffing cigarettes
tapping mystic slats
characters on dingy platform
sporting porkpie hats
trumpeting the sketchiest of
sketchy urban scenes
Nighthawks undulating speaks
a storybook of dreams
sculpting artful settings
in the snappiest of ways
on twisty tracks from Nyack
the Cape Ann shore line sways
in Hopper’s chromium plays
windswept daubs remind
coast the mind blowingly vast
azure sea of time
© 2023 by bob plainwilder
–Hear bob plainwilder read this poem
More bob plainwilder poems:
–a san francisco beat (this one’s dedicated to all the visionary painters out there)
–a spiritual muckrake (dedicated tor artists interested in free speech and making social progress thru art)
ode to george grosz
//
wild mongoose of an artist
in the social fray
turned hot lights on everything
a prophet of his day
grosz gonzo grosz
extremely rare visionaire
his thoughtful winning shine
needles a civilization in decline
authoritarian decadence in
brushstrokes big and bold
grosz unequaled social critic
prescient foretold
casting poignant spotlights upon
cultural degeneration
bureaucrats misguided
moneyed interest waving fist
seeing through the careless snipes
who’d wipe goodness from our midst
stout hearted artists like george grosz
today are sorely missed
© 2024 by bob plainwilder
grinding metal corporate teeth
//
way down deep in dinjyville
waitin for a train
stumblebum plinkin phone
beneath monster office tower
people stuck in mires
worlds away from real fulfillment
in the maelstrom of each day
everywheres another cranky
smart device encrusted soul
sinkin down into some hole
nuthin much to say
bleary eyed and far away
disappointed also
danglin’ off this hapless joe
grinding metal corporate teeth
that don’t let go
Drawing above by Frost Newton
© 2022 by bob plainwilder
da san francisco beat
//why my brain is out there
on a windswept corner
dripping rain
i’m not real sure
going off with la dee dah
a storybook gypsy rose lee
riffing surreality
her story has convinced me
to try and steer my ne’er do well
craft across the sea
rolling up jankety joints
dispensing mega mystery
backlit by some har dee har
inky dink rocket car
an interplanetary clown
i spacewalk down the bully-vard
heady somehow carving footprints into margin’s edge
flippantly i postulate in a far out bar
ricocheting otherworldly
sparks from my guitar
weisenheimer stains on shoit
emblematic righteous doit
blowing open vintage
wobbly paths to creativity
my message for eternity
boiling down sum white hot seat
tony rice a roni
da san francisco beat
© 2024 by bob plainwilder
–Hear bob plainwilder read this poem
bob plainwilder music:
– IMPACT!
More bob plainwilder poems:
–edward hopper appliquè (this one’s dedicated to all the visionary painters out there)
–i grew up a muckrake (dedicated to artists interested in free speech and making social progress thru art)
ode to Soho Zat
//Stan at Soho Zat selling Bad Newz
fanzines from a spinner rack —
10 or 20 every ish
Stan turned round reliably
Stan would actually pay
an EZ going operator
out there in his way
before social internet
Zat supported youth culture
moving comic books & zines…
no mobile phones then!
that place just a memory
packed in Soho Zat,
arcane klumps of history…
celebrating that!
© 2021 by bob plainwilder
More bob plainwilder poems:
–edward hopper appliquè (this one’s dedicated to all the visionary painters out there)
–me, a teenage muckrake (dedicated to artists interested in free speech and making social progress thru art)
Welcome – The San Francisco Review
//
Arts, Letters & Culture from SF Bay & Beyond.
Issue #101, Now – Contents:
Daly City, California
//Stack of suburban pancakes,
served with syrup, fries,
2 baked eggs, and no hungry
grandfather.
We were not born here
and we will not die here,
it said on the news.
Lay back in your chair
and count the blue stars
that fall from the ceiling.
© 2017 by Jeff Zable
Bomb Sniffing Dog Symbol
//
© 2017 by bob plainwilder