CLONES
I�m walking w/ black boots, black pants, black button down shirt, silver nail polish & orange manic panic on top�
I look like a clove cigarette�
bobbing through the middle of Providence Water Fire Festival�
burning as bright as my hair this mile of flaming canal sculpture is attracting thousands of people who don�t live here & somehow this beer breathed married with children guy & I collide
Swaying in Versachi loafers he slurs �Watch where you�re going faggot. People like you should stay away from places with children There should be laws against you! What do they do, clone the queers in this city?�
"Why yes! I�ve been cloned, I�ve been made, made into two, they made another of me, they cloned me cloned me, so I could phone me, �hello how am I�, that�s right I�m fine!
I�ve been cloned, so when I�m dumb, I can punch me, right upside the head, with out that awkward move, I don�t eat my dinner alone, I�ll never clean again, that�s my job
I�ve been cloned, so I can take turns, walking through here, I can drink alone, get sloshed just like you & not worry, I play with my self, scrabble & Gin Rummy & I always win�
I've been cloned so I can date twins ~ Triplets? ~ TWINS ~ TRIPLETS! ~ wait, now I'll have 4 left feet ~ but when lead I follow ~ & wherever I go I'll have two to tango ~ so yeah, they made another of me ~ so I could dance with me!
I'll do the Lambada ~ But that is forbidden! ...So I'll break ~ dance, I'll Romance ~ Twins Again? ~ No Chance
unless I become the next:
New Kids on the Back Street Boys to Men N-Sync Lip Trick Daddy ACT!
I could be Milli
I could be Vanilli
(& NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW THE TRUTH)
Yea, I�ve been cloned, it�s kinda cool, but do I like my self? Do I like what I see when I see me? I think I do, how about you? What do you see? When you look in the mirror, what do you see?
Tell me you class-less middle-upper-class-ass-living-in-the-past
When�s the last time you changed your daily crass routine
Up in the morning, shit shower shave, work all day, then back home to the life / wife you haven�t wanted in years
When�s the last time you didn�t drink & drive / the last time you drank just one?
Missed Monday Night Football or even turned off the Television?
When�s the last time you sat in a huge field of grass & smoked it?
Played golf & didn�t write looser on the score card?
When�s the last time you didn�t spit hate with words like faggot?
Tell me,
When you look in the mirror, what do you see!"
I remember when I performed this piece in Chicago in 1999. This was the first time I�d ever been on a national stage. It was a duet, actually a trio. Ed Fuqua was positioned rear stage with his own microphone. His only line is the �(& no one will ever know the truth)� line.
God, I was so scared. I could hardly remember the performance when I got off stage. The one clear moment was after Ed�s line when the entire place erupted and I had to wait a couple beats to get the poem going again � the crowd was just too loud � and since there�s a 3 minute time limit, I had to start performing over the crowd�s cheers.
I remember that much. I don�t even remember the scores (yes, they score these poetry slam things�)
So this crazy nuts so so written piece was my first exposure to the National Poetry Slam Scene. Ahh, nostalgia.
Oh and Morley Shafer - of 60 Minutes, Marc Smith - the Founder of Poetry Slam - and a TV camera crew (not shown) were in the audience too. "Pressure?" "What pressure?"
