PROSE
AND
POETRY
by Matt Smith

'PORNOETRY'
by Matt Smith

After perusing the websites of several poets I came to this conclusion: you could get a lot more hits on your website if you put naked pictures of yourself on it. So I called my friend Darnell on the phone. He's got a camera and he's even had pictures of him and his wife on the internet, naked. He made a tripod out of an old floor lamp and rigged a coat hanger and some twine up to the picture taking button so he could get action shots from across the room.

Darnell showed up at my door on the night we'd agreed upon with his Polaroid tied around his neck with a shoestring.

-Hey buddy! I said.

-Say there chief! Where you wanna do it? Darnell inquired.

-I was thinking we could move the sofa into the center of the room so we could use it as a prop, you know? Then we could turn on the ceiling fan to create kind of a wind effect.

Darnell liked this idea so we got to moving the sofa around. Darnell brought over some beer and peanuts to enjoy when the photo session was over. He was good like that.

I didn't have any problem getting naked in front of Darnell. We'd seen each other's weenies before. One time we were at this bar watching Greg Allman play, we were the last ones to leave and we had to pee really bad only we didn't realize it til' we got outside. So we went around behind the building and commenced to peeing when all of a sudden out comes Greg Allman and he got right up next to us and peed on that wall too. I can't say honestly that I didn't peek, being that he's famous and it's not everyday that a man gets to see a real live Allman penis.

So I got undressed and stretched out on the sofa, real sexy-like. Darnell turned on the ceiling fan. I turned sideways with one knee pointing at the ceiling and one knee pointed at Darnell and the camera. I rested my head on my right hand and gazed real melancholy like at the floor. I was trying to convey deep sensitivity as well as my sensuous, manly side.

- That's real good! Darnell said. He was snapping away as the Polaroid spit out the artwork. - Throw your arms back over your head like this, Darnell said as he demonstrated. He threw his arms straight up in the air and made his mouth into an O.

- Like this? I asked, doing my best to follow his instructions.

- That's perfect! Be loose! Be sexy! Just think about all them girls out there getting all excited looking at you! Let yourself go!

- How's this? I got up on my knees and leaned over the back of the couch, placing my left hand on my hip. - Can you see it dangling between my legs?

- They're gonna love this stuff! You gonna have the best damn poetry website in the world!

I had an idea. I ran into the kitchen and grabbed a jar of marshmallow fluff and the bottle of Mazola corn oil.

- I see where you're going with this brother! I like it! Oh yeah! Rub it all over! Put more marshmallow on your ass. That's it buddy! That's you, that's you!

Darnell was really pleased with the way this was going. We stopped to look at what we'd done so far. I have to admit they were pretty damn good. We decided that if I sat right up on the edge of the sofa and let it dangle over the side it'd look a lot bigger. I also got out a book of poems by my friend Justin Bartlett and pretended I was reading it just to give the pictures that intellectual look.

- Here, put this in your mouth, Darnell said as he handed me a peach from the kitchen table.

- ike iss? I asked.

- Yeah! Let the juice run down your face! Now, turn over backwards with your head touching the floor and your legs on the back of the couch. OK! OK! Now . . . with your left hand kinda point casually at your pecker. You know, as if you was saying, 'Here it is . . . if you want it . . . all's you gotta do is reach out and take it baby . . . touch this sexy bod-ay!'

It was really something to see Darnell work. He really makes you feel at ease. He's such a pro with that camera, man I tell you what. I'm sure I could get him to do some for you if you ever want to upgrade your site. Anyway, he took the pictures home with him so he could scan them all into his computer. So if you need some pictures to go with the poems I sent just let me know and I'll get Darnell to send'em to you.

Thanks for reading my stuff. Hope you like it.

Sincerely,

Matt Smith

� Matt Smith

Reproduced with permission

---

'FRICTION IN THE WORKPLACE'
by Matt Smith

His vacant eyes on the crabgrass
That keeps sprouting up
Immune to poison and lectures
I'm worrying over something else
Women shaped like vases
With cotton field fingers
And apocalypse thighs
Pouring over the walls
To tear me limb from limb
When it's cold outside
They'll leave me to freeze
With the fallen apples
And rouse my body come springtime
The crabgrass doesn't concern me yet


� Matt Smith
Reproduced with permission

---

'A DEAD DOG'
by Matt Smith

n the cornfield with it's legs
sticking straight out
in spasm against death.
His eyes angry and open
seeing it all go down.
He found a place to go it alone
where no one could see the last fight.
I know he lost-as we all will one day -
but I hope for his sake
that he got a couple good licks in
before it all came down.
Dogs die kicking and screaming,
biting and snarling if they have to,
just to piss on the neighbors fence
one last time before death comes
in his candyass chariot
to lash their used bodies
to the hood like a deer in winter.
When it's my turn I hope there's morphine
and soft pillows and mother earth songs
and Christ speeches and tongue oil,
heroic deaths are for soldiers
and screenwriters and Sandanistas
and dogs.


� Matt Smith
Reproduced with permission

---

'I CAN'T REMEMBER WHO NOW'
by Matt Smith

I tumbled ass first into my chair
Flipped on the lamp and began
To feel useless

I had to feel something and
That's as good a sensation as any

I scribbled in my notebook
Childish drawings of faces and
Poems about goats

You looked surprised to find me here
As if I should be someplace else
When you come around

You work hard to maintain your shape
While mine is getting soft around the middle
But, when you really think about it
We would fit together nicely
Me falling out while you pull in

But I forgot to shave
And the coarse stubble
Could irritate
Your thighs


� Matt Smith
Reproduced with permission

---

'SLUMBERLAND'
by Matt Smith

I got this coffee from Nicaragua
it comes straight from the farm
in brown paper bags.
I got these blue bedroom slippers
that say Slumberland inside.
The coffee makes me see wet jungles
and tan bodies with smiling faces on top.
The slippers don't really do all that much.
When my anger rises up and threatens me,
urging me on to more pointless outbursts
and when I'm just in the middle, not caring,
particularly, one way or the other
and when my nose sprays blood on the pages
of a new book-the spine freshly cracked
and I say that I just can't take it anymore
-but I have for too long now, it's become
a habit-I pour gallons of the coffee
down my throat, put on my slippers
and dream empty dreams of Slumberland


� Matt Smith
Reproduced with permission

---

'SALAD MAN'
by Matt Smith

I stopped using shampoo
And soap and deodorant

I thought the world
Needed to experience
More of the real me

When my hair matted
I put on a hat

I did sit in the bathtub
For long enough to
Chase away the cold

The dirt and oil congealed
I was like salad dressing

I began to sour
When I scratched my head
My fingers smelled
Like rice wine vinegar

I knew I'd never find a woman
Not like this
But if I did

She would be into
Some real kinky shit


� Matt Smith
Reproduced with permission

---

'ALLANA'
by Matt Smith

Allana said we are all beautiful in dreams,
Even the ones where we have no clothes.
She says she's learning to play a piece

By Hector Berlioz on the fiddle,
The violin-she always corrects me
What about the nightmares, I ask
She hasn't had those in years and
Perhaps I should see someone.
I'm playing with a candle, turning
The body so the green wax drips in spirals.
Whatever it takes to make time pass
In a more agreeable fashion than this.

� Matt Smith
Reproduced with permission

---

MATTS LITERARY INFLUENCES INCLUDE:

FLANNERY O'CONNOR

Click title to visit Comforts of Home - a site dedicated to O'Connor and her work; for the source for critical essays on O'Connor's stories, click here or to view her work on Amazon, click here

---

FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA

Click title for 5 poems and an introduction to the work of Lorca; for a brief biography, plus text of "Lament for Ignacio Sanchez Mejias" on the Cyber Spain site, click here or to view his work on Amazon, click here

---

ROALD DAHL

Click title to visit the official Roald Dahl website; for the Roald Dahl Fans site, featuring resources for fans, students, teachers, and collectors, click here or to view his work on Amazon, click here

---

C.S. LEWIS (the children's books only)

Click title to visit the Into the Wardrobe site, devoted to Lewis and his writing; for the website of the C.S. Lewis Foundation, click here or to view his work on Amazon, click here

---

LOUIS-FERDINAND CELINE

Click title for a biography of Celine and links on the Corduroy site; for biography and bibliography of Celine on the Kirjasto site, click here or to view his work on Amazon, click here

---

ROBINSON JEFFERS

Click title to visit Jeffers - the Jeffers Study home page; for the website of the Robinson Jeffers Tor House Foundation, click here or to view his work on Amazon, click here

---

KNUT HAMSUN

Click title to visit Nordland - the Knut Hamsun Resource Page; for Lars Frode Larsen's informative article on Hamsun on the Odin site, click here or to view his work on Amazon, click here

---

DR. SEUSS

Click title to visit Seussville - for interactive games, contests, and information on Seuss and his works; for Dr. Seuss Went to War: A Catalog of Political Cartoons by Dr. Seuss, click here or to view his work on Amazon, click here

---

WALT WHITMAN

Click title to visit the website of the Walt Whitman Archive; to read a selection of Whitman's poetry on the Poetry of Walt Whitman site, click here or to view his work on Amazon, click here

---

ARTHUR RIMBAUD

Click title for a biography and links for Rimbaud on the Corduroy site; for a Rimbaud biography, poems, letters, maps and reviews, click here or to view his work on Amazon, click here

---

Your first name:	Your URL:
Use the box below to leave messages for Matt. Begin Message: For Matt Smith