TOM PENNACCHINI - POEMS

Tom Pennacchini is a flaneur living in NYC.

"Lone Folkie" was originally published by the Free Poet and "Put in place Out of place" was originally in Mojave Heart Review

​Lone Folkie

​There is a squat/stout duffer in a windbreaker and a Mets cap on the outskirts of the park 
playing a rickety 5 string and hoot'in and holler'in. 

I have no idea what he is singing.  
There is no discernible melody.  
Every now and then he stops/ freezes/ puts his forefinger in the air 
to take some sort of measure 
before plunging back into his flailing guitar.  
After another stuttering burst he will stop/ 
then let loose with an elongated cry to the sky/  
punk operatic/ style 

nobody seems to stop/and listen/he does not have a container for contributions and probably would not get much trade/
he is playing/for his own/self/and that is / enough  
It's/utterly senseless/ wholly out of key.  
Beyond the realm of anything/ 
resembling cohesive musicality 
/rambunctiously obtuse 

yet imbued with an innocence that casts proficient excellence into a pallid light.  

His songs/ performance/ like life/ a messy and inconclusive/ thing/

You can have/ your polished practice and Carnegie aspirations/ 
and make of that an evening/ with class
 but I like the way this codger lets her rip/  
this ragged chanteur/ 
airs it out/ no class/ no talent/ but lotsa / style

its the best

​he was pouring at the happening and usually there is a fair amount 
of disdain for the enthusiasts who like to sidle up to 
sample the snacks, libations and what have you goodies.

he was a wisp of fair blond - a hippy kid.


he asked me if I would like him to crack my can of brew
I told him that this was not necessary
I looked at some stuff and listened to some other stuff

trying to maintain a bit of elbow room 
while the crowds swirled and yammered
 biding some time before refill and then I went back for another and he 
cracked this one for me and said "cheers"
I drank it down and went for a walk down the street

I did not want to appear to be too gluttonous so I gave it some minutes

when I resurfaced in the crowded room and foraged thru the groups back to my man
he smiled and said "I grabbed this one at the bottom so that its chilled and now it needs to be shotgunned".
I laughed and retorted with double thumbs up

Impressed that this cat accurately assessed my quench and provided a 
responsive and congenial atmosphere in one that can be rather unpleasant and clannish
my man had it

and I salute him for it
the damn hippy dippy 
had it
kindness

Gone on Automatic and Ride the Surface

I find that the fine art of communique
is in some significant straits
Well was it ever not weird to be alive?
But here in the 21st...
Now 
THIS is ridiculous


I'll layer in some specifics
I recently had a conversation with a fella I have known for some time 
At various temporary jobs
Well it is summertime 
and a heat wave has been on
And he asked me if I had an a/c


I sort of look forward to this annual exchange because you know the weather 
is a steady and reliable topic and the guy
asks me this every year (I always tell him that I do but always withhold the fact that I am too thrifty to use it). I mean setting aside the possibility that I'm not particularly memorable (I submit this option with some reluctance) 
I'm going to go forward with a pooh on that theory
I mean I know that he does (have one)
and I also know he gets pest control service occasionally 


Well I mean I have these conversations and it seems that life information 
is consistently being asked and repeated 
         This 
Lack of a simple listen 
         This 
Consistent overlap of talk all a  tangled 
          This
Evident preference of tongue over ear 


I have known some of these people
for years and they are more than colleagues (a few anyway). but less than friends 
           And
it isn't an age thing 
its presence  has crossover 
           This
Repetitive exchange 
           This
Telling the same stories 


There is minimal recollection and its perchance due to a 
liberal scattering of informational  seeds all about and anon (but the roots don't wanna dig or hang) and also
a minimizing of any genuine specificity in regards to a more 
resonant connectivity with fellow beings whilst we 
while our time away on the planet 


             I dunno
History has given us many ideas over its due course but
I got nothing 
Well I mean Henry David already suggested simplifying 
(christ he probably said it ad nauseum)
              I'm just 
Wondering what the hell happened
​

​Put In place Out of place

​I have been shut down occasionally vis a vis my mutterances on the street corner and while attempting movement on the frenetic city sidewalks 

I like to do it in order to sort of clear a path and in order 
to facilitate and free up navigation- 

at times I'll say "I gotta do a little bit a that swivel and swerve" - or as I zig and zag out a maneuver - " just the slip n slide" whilst moving and weaving thru the throngs

Other times I'll emit a bit of a shriek 
Or
Announce constructive critiques regarding their aptitude for city walking like 
"Another dolt - doing the diagonal "!  - admonishing the herd - "I am begging for mercy "!  "good heavens - cease and disperse the cluster "!
Their compass clearly needing alignment (my god do they drive like this?) -
Must make sure that shit is correct!  I am trying to move freely goddamnit!
"I gotta circumnavigate stone agony"! ...  "Becomes imperative "!!
Perhaps I'll be clogged by a stroller
"Nightmare in perpetuity "!
A Yammerer on the phone AND a stroller-
"You know they're out to torture"!!

Then there are the odd times in which I need to be schooled -
One time I was loudly griping about a construction obstruction (it is all over and everywhere) and a yob kinda bloke  said " its NY - Stop complaining" ... 
I readily complied

Another time I was wading through a crowd announcing "I know my babies ain't shy" whereof a charming lass turned to me and demurred "How do you know I'm not shy?" 
I fluttered - gurgled some kind of Non-sequiter before feathering and loping off.

Well perhaps I'm not a confrontational sort but there you have it
just trying...trying to move along.

​Politicking Sickening

​all this blather blah blather about change 

It goes round and round and what? 

Me too!  I want to be part of the class!  With the full allowance to make an ass!
Me too!  I want in on the school!  With the total support and permission to play the fool!  

We the peep sheep insist on the seed to breed the need for the freedom to feed the greed.

what's yer preference and who ya with?

whatttaya hear whattaya say whattaya got?!

lib?  conservative?

reform?  revolutionary?

warm shit?  cold shit?  

  what s the story?  don't take it with a sit.  
  what's your bit.

  cold shit?  warm shit?

just so your all 
and part of them
what's yer mission?
a bougie assassin?
an emblem
 and participant in congregating fashion?

yippie?  hippie?
who's yer choice 
what's yer voice 
they had their scenes 
they done their things


just check out the 
escalating
      price
            of
                   jeans

round blather blather round

    who do you align 
left?  right?

    nah, I'll follow my own sign 
seek the beat an tune of
 my own signature time

You can have your damn sides and teams

i'll go left right center down up or wherever
i do insist on following the lark 
and whimsy of my own personal dreams

all of this group say
proselytize and winge
inspiring myself to turn away
turn away to marshall my own single troop
take the arches, conduct the individual jam
flow with my own tide outside and 
gather as much distance as possible man
yeah hitch my own ride - - - out
-- yeah man out 
beyond the fringe

i mean what the ..??    lissen an lookatimall!

What a clusterfuck of ambition 
I refuse the choose
these talking heads talk on 
and the spiel remains substantively thin
the goal is I beat you that's the deal 

but
to lose is to win
to win is to lose

   bah 
for me ... 

   nah
I think the road I'll roam is
an
   acquantanceship
with self       

i don't want
 the blather crowd
i'd rather tune'em out
all that kinda shout

when you live
              within...
you can do..
                           without