Jennifer Karmin

America, A Love Poem

i barf america and america barfs me

don't leave me
ooh please don't leave me
all by myself

i've got this burning burning
yearning feelin' inside me

ooh deep inside me
and it hurts so bad

where did our love go
ooh don't you want me
don't you want me no more


i fart america and america farts me

good morning
today we present this report
a failure of imagination

19 armed with
knives and box-cutters
mace and pepper spray

penetrated the defenses
turned the order
upside down

we ask each of you
to remember
how you felt that day



i fuck america and america fucks me

drill baby drill
baby drill baby

drill drill baby
baby baby drill

drill baby baby
baby drill drill

drill drill drill
baby baby baby


i piss america and america pisses me

i’m a mother
and a waitress
i enjoy what
i’m doing

but wouldn’t want
to do it
for a lifetime

i’m divorced
and find it difficult
to meet men
who want to have
a relationship

someday
i’d like
to go back
to school



i shit america and america shits me

a steady diet of misinformation and threats
leaves no physical marks
force nudity

eliminate all noise and light sources
bind blindfold earmuff
force sexual acts

strap down to a board and dunk in water
lock in a small hot room
force smearing of menstrual blood

bring back
gasping
to surface



i spit america and america spits me

yesterday

when

i

was

walking

down

the

street

did

you

think

i

was

a

sun

goddess

Jennifer Karmin is happy to be part of your summer reading. She is spending July 2010 conceiving, installing, and performing Unnatural Acts at LACE in Los Angeles as part of the Les Figues Press text project Not Content. Taking its name from the historic collaborative writing marathons led by Bernadette Mayer and others in NYC during 1972-73, Unnatural Acts will explore the themes of hunger, war, and desire through public acts of collaboration. Jennifer lives in Chicago and is the author of the text-sound epic Aaaaaaaaaaalice (Flim Forum Press, 2010).