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

SHARON MESMER

When I Hear The World “Fluxus” I Reach For My Anti-Semitism

When I hear the word "fluxus" I reach for my anti-Semitism

When I hear the word “anti-Semitism” I reach for my carnal buffalo blanket

When I hear the word “carnal buffalo blanket” I reach for my debauching riverman's

pony, restless and full of bad English

When I hear the word “debauching riverman’s pony” I reach for my heavy seductress

hissing the word Iraq

When I hear the word “heavy seductress hissing the word Iraq” I reach for my tortured

Silliman screaming "oh its just another dumbass adjusting her mechanical Tony Robbins

bear boob with lank greasy hair”

When I hear the word “tortured Silliman” I reach for Andy Dick

When I hear the word “Andy Dick” I reach for Grandma’s asshole in fishnets

When I heard the word “Grandma’s asshole in fishnet” I reach for my fecal tongs

When I hear the word “fecal tongs” I reach for my hot nurse fucked by a horny alien

When I hear the word “hot nurse fucked by a horny alien” I reach for Rachael Ray in

Huggies inside a Crockpot

When I hear the word “Rachael Ray in Huggies inside a Crockpot” I reach for the most

recent issue of PMLA

When I hear the word “most recent issue of PMLA” I reach for my first embalming

When I hear the word “first embalming” I reach for binaries of presence/absence

not peculiar to my personal reality, in other words the miraculous world we can perceive

through my vagina

When I hear the word “my vagina” I reach for a reconstruction of Jesus with his index

finger poised over the button of a discharged weapon

When I hear the word “Jesus with his index finger poised over the button of a discharged

weapon” I reach for the 7-fold division of reality made up of perverse dorks who thought

they were getting away with something

When I hear the word “perverse dorks who thought they were getting away with

something” I reach for Stephen Cope's job letter as a template for my job letter

When I hear the word “job letter” I reach for a dainty, long-haired, shawl-wearing woman

When I hear the word “dainty, long-haired, shawl-wearing woman” I reach for my dog-

eared copy of “If I Had An Anus”

When I hear the word “dog-eared copy of ‘If I Had An Anus’” I reach for my terrorist

When I hear the word “terrorist” I reach for my meme

When I hear the word “meme” I reach for my terrorist

[Reprinted from Napalm Health Spa: Report 2008.]

Sharon Mesmer, a two time New York Foundation for the Arts fellow in poetry, is considered to be a member of the Flarf poetry movement. A student of Allen Ginsberg’s at Brooklyn College, her works of poetry include Crossing Second Avenue (ABJ Books, Japan, 1997), Half Angel, Half Lunch (HArd PRess, 1998), Vertigo Seeks Affinities (Belladonna Books, 2006), Annoying Diabetic Bitch (Combo Books, 2008), and The Virgin Formica (Hanging Loose Press, 2008).