N a p a l m
H e a l t h S p a : R e p
o r t 2 0 1 3 : S p e c i
a l E d i
t i o n
L o n g P
o e m M
a s t e r p i e c e s o f
t h e P o s t b e a t
s
BOB HOLMAN
This Closeness Thing
I Don’t Know About This
Closeness Thing
I
do.
Wanna come over?
I’ll
tell you about it
I Don’t Know About This
Closeness Thing
Take
it from me
No
one does
Let’s
take off our clothes
And
dance
I Don’t Know About This
Closeness Thing
You
don’t?
Would
you like to talk
About it?
I Don’t Know About This
Closeness Thing
I
don’t know about this closeness thing either!
I’m
coming right over
Such
an astonishing coincidence
We
must take advantage of the moment
I Don’t Know About This
Closeness Thing
Who
does?
I
once met someone who did.
Suicide.
Closer to God.
I Don’t Know About This
Closeness Thing
The
question is
What
does this
Closeness
thing
Know
about you?
I Don’t Know About This
Closeness Thing
I’m
on my way over right now!
We
need to talk about this closeness thing
I Don’t Know About This
Closeness Thing
It’s
not that you don’t know about this closeness thing
It’s
that something is holding you
Back
from knowing about it
Is
there anything in your childhood...?
I Don’t Know About This
Closeness Thing
I’m
impressed
You
can think so clearly
With
your pussy in my mouth
I Don’t Know About This
Closeness Thing
No
one does
That’s
why words were invented
And
sex, so we could shut up
I Don’t Know About This
Closeness Thing
We
could talk about it
We
are 1,000s of miles apart
I Don’t Know About This
Closeness Thing
This
closeness thing
Knows
a lot about you
I Don’t Know About This
Closeness Thing
Really?
I Don’t Know About This
Closeness Thing
I’m
sorry, what did you say?
I
can’t hear you
Could
you come a little closer?
I Don’t Know About This
Closeness Thing
You
seem to be very close
To
something here
I Don’t Know About This
Closeness Thing
I
don’t either
Let’s
fuck
I Don’t Know About This
Closeness Thing
I’d
really like to talk
About
this closeness thing
But
my phone card will run
Out
in four minutes
I Don’t Know About This
Closeness Thing
The
key word is “about”
There’s
something about “about”
What
“about” it?
“It”
is also a problem
I
also don’t know “about” “it”
I Don’t Know About This
Closeness Thing
It
all depends what you mean by closeness
What
do you mean by closeness?
I Don’t Know About This
Closeness Thing
Too
bad
Everyone
else does
Except
me
Want
to get together?
I Don’t Know About This
Closeness Thing
What
closeness thing?
I Don’t Know About This
Closeness Thing
There’s
no such thing
As
a closeness thing
[Used by permission of
the author.]
Poet,
professor and founder of Bowery Poetry, Bob Holman lives on the Bowery in NYC.
His new book, Sing This One Back To Me,
is just out from Coffee House Press; the exhibition of A Couple of Ways of Doing Something, a
collaboration with Chuck Close (Aperture) continues to tour globally. His
documentary on poetry and Endangered Languages, "Language Matters," will
air on PBS in 2014.