{"id":139,"date":"2009-07-07T15:37:56","date_gmt":"2009-07-07T23:37:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.quinnnorton.com\/said\/?p=139"},"modified":"2009-07-07T15:37:56","modified_gmt":"2009-07-07T23:37:56","slug":"my-current-favorite-poem-by-katherine-dunn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quinnnorton.com\/said\/?p=139","title":{"rendered":"My current favorite poem, by Katherine Dunn"},"content":{"rendered":"

I found this only in one place across the net, and never found it included in any book. It’s like it barely exists- just on a personal blog called broken ladder<\/a>, and in a song by illimitable Steinski<\/a>. It is simply one of the most amazing poems I have ever encountered.<\/p>\n

american dozens: remembered curses from the playground – by katherine dunn<\/p>\n

your mother is probably the only one you’ve ever known
\nwho really wanted to kill you
\nand your mother stopped cars on sunset boulevard
\nby the length of her legs and the magyar in her cheekbones
\nthough she claimed it was just good posture<\/p>\n

and your mother married five handsome men
\nbut swore she only did it for the money
\nand your mother made ships out of pine cones
\nand guns out of milk cans
\nand no human male was calm within fifty feet of her<\/p>\n

and your mother told wild stories at the dinner table
\ntill you were cramped and leaking with laughter
\nshe said stalin died from eating two whole chickens all by himself
\nbut she ate only wings and necks and the pope’s nose<\/p>\n

and your mother called you ‘dove’ or ‘childy’ and broke your nose
\nand put your baby brother in the hospital with a fractured pelvis
\nand your mother dragged you through bean fields and dreams
\nand turned the hose on bill collectors<\/p>\n

and your mother could curse
\nand your mother stole proudly saying “it’s not dishonest, it’s resourceful!”
\nand your mother the teetotaler
\nran a desoto full of booze into dry counties to buy christmas toys<\/p>\n

and your mother ran a red light in a strange town and got the arresting officer
\nto pay her rent
\nand your mother fed you, all one winter
\nby drawing portraits of albert schwietzer with black crayons on old pillowcases
\nand selling them to suckers<\/p>\n

and your mother forgot toothbrushes but taught you to make slingshots
\nand keep your distance in a fight
\nand your mother didn’t really care if you went to school
\nbut she told you you were god and rubbed your face
\nin raw beauty three times a day<\/p>\n

and your mother knew if you got hurt even across town
\nbut it never worried her
\nand your mother made pie out of one saltine and a raisin
\nand your mother singed her eyebrows scooping you from a fire some claim she set
\nand drew them on with maybelline forever after<\/p>\n

and your mother ran off with a new man and did her best to leave you behind
\nbut you hitchhiked after her
\nand your mother wore you out with switches, broom handles, belts
\nand her paralyzing tongue
\nthen snatched your ass from the draft board and hid you for a whole war<\/p>\n

and your mother sliced off the top of your skull with her terrible love
\nand poured in the charred sludge of hate
\nand there was never a dull moment<\/p>\n

and your mother suspects you of plotting against her
\nand she’s right<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I found this only in one place across the net, and never found it included in any book. It’s like it barely exists- just on a personal blog called broken ladder, and in a song by illimitable Steinski. It is simply one of the most amazing poems I have ever encountered. american dozens: remembered curses […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[78],"class_list":["post-139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing","tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quinnnorton.com\/said\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quinnnorton.com\/said\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quinnnorton.com\/said\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quinnnorton.com\/said\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quinnnorton.com\/said\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.quinnnorton.com\/said\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":141,"href":"https:\/\/www.quinnnorton.com\/said\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions\/141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quinnnorton.com\/said\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quinnnorton.com\/said\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quinnnorton.com\/said\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}