Knowing Your Audience

                                                         Knowing Your Audience

I got this superb poem just a few hours ago from William in Guatemala and I have to say it shows all the sense of play, and at the same time the incredible steely understanding I associate with his work.
He says it emerged out of " A fiasco at coffee bar "

Enjoy.


                                         
                                                                                              Know Your Audience


                                                                                      That's what everyone
                                                                                       told me
                                                                                       when I confessed
                                                                                       I read a poem
                                                                                       about a dental assistant
                                                                                       mounting me
                                                                                       when I was wigged out
                                                                                       on novocane
                                                                                       to some bouncy girls
                                                                                       who were Born Again Christians.

                                                                                       I don't know
                                                                                       if my poem
                                                                                       made these trumpeters
                                                                                       for Jesus
                                                                                       hot
                                                                                       or they just shucked me
                                                                                       off
                                                                                       as one more sinner
                                                                                       in need
                                                                                       of reform.

                                                                                       What I do know
                                                                                        is that if I ever
                                                                                        took the time
                                                                                        to really know
                                                                                        my audience
                                                                                        I wouldn't write
                                                                                        at all.
                                                                                        I would cut through
                                                                                        all ambiguity
                                                                                        all prejudice
                                                                                        all interpretation
                                                                                        by buying an AK-47.

                                                                                        The history books would
mention
                                                                                         in footnotes
                                                                                         that poetry finally
                                                                                         found a way
                                                                                         to reach
                                                                                         the masses.



With the permission of William Joyce                

                                                          The Truth


Everyone has it:
on the streets laughing
with friends at age 8,
or in the woods,
farm fields.
Life then was the joy
of the moment
and lively companions,
sunlight , inventiveness.

We lose all this:
a hammer comes down--
obey, obey, obey.
The eyes lose their glow,
the shoulders their suppleness,
the hips their swing.
50 years later we wonder
where it all went ?
At age 8 we could have
learned anything,
been anybody,
done anything.

At age 8 we were
so tricky,
so beautiful,
so undaunted,
all of civilization
could have fit
in our right front pocket,
the one with the hole in it.

At age 8 we should have
had a loving affair
every three weeks.
At age 8 we were
pure juice.

Quit talking.
Learn to sing
or play
on a garbage can top.
Or just listen
and learn to love
the silences.
The truth is still there,
somewhere.



With the permission of William Joyce

                                          Richard Godwin Interviews William Joyce



William Has gone to Guatemala where his life can be lead with more peace and of course where his limited financial resources can be used more effectively. The struggle he speaks of in this fantastic interview was not an abstract one, but rather a day to day issue which made it harder to do what he does best, which is of course write. It is great to read him in full flow and I'd like to thank Richard Godwin for giving him the space to speak freely and for taking the time to go out and find a writer that should matter more than the world currently thinks appropriate. Please read the interview and of course I would urge anybody to go out and read Williams work be it his Poetry, Novel, Short stories or indeed his Criticism (Under the name Guillermo O'Joyce)  I'll be putting up some more poetry and prose over the next few days.

http://www.richardgodwin.net/blog