Four Poems From Junebug
The Concept of the Natural
1.
Under a concrete sun
the adult person “makes”
good time
on the way into
an establishment
against the ocean
2.
Doing things for me
even as me
the entity
uses human standards
mixing and remixing a world
made only of concrete
3.
Hercules never did box
the figure of his outsized lore
the lion
outside the lapidarium
our mythology made for domination
of imagination
the picture gets more real and alive
at night
4.
Everyday machines
making days
more convenient
stand in
for ancient
thought production
saying “no”
to living
5.
The natural edge of things
is really round
scraped and brushed up against
you have
every right
to yell
6.
I sit around to reduce
my spending
to change
my way of life
tomato, mozzarella, basil
to look forward to
7.
How can I put it
one day I won’t know
and this will relax me
this fact
of no fact
8.
What if there’s a secret holiday
in dog society
3-5 business days
an unfortunate coincidence
9.
The 5th dimension
obviously TV
as seen
on TV
10.
To avoid other events taking place
of their causes and effects
they did the only sane thing
they could think to do
becoming hermits
A Living Poet's Dream
after Claes Oldenburg
What was it they did so long ago to live? Work the body, swap
apprehensions, shit-chat, smash the state. June was afternoon.
Babes rolled on block wheels. Friends, heroes, smoke-sharers,
snakes—perform it based on hunger days. What else can you
give?
Our sky, a risqué blue, makes a minnow’s flash flash
the feelings of every duck at port, steering boys to cobbles—
vicious, steep streets. Up on the stage of the ear, a living poet’s
dream.
Works and Days
after Wan-li
All of it in a bundle today, wrapped up for the purple cliff
ahead. January. I feel all my ages, enough to say there aren’t
any words on the milestones up the mountain. Years dissolve
the road and all your words. Now a wind comes down around
from the hidden place, over that slope that looks just like a
book. Now waterwheel, now tumbleweed. Now I can be that
free.
Step out to relax, come out from behind these warped
windows. Quarter of nine, failings, flailings, works and days.
HHH
The annual quantity of heat liberated by dung makes the old
men proud. Dissolved in water, ovoid tablets keep their heads
held high. What they bring only feels novel, a novelty. The
world comes to habits emerging from cults and cultures,
machine-made cigars and snug tableaux. 12 incoherent
months add up to your brilliant year of success. How to get it
comes down to history, not the moment.
It’s a limp, toneless happiness observed around the
manure ring, grim and everyday. No is a better word than Yes.
Paul Maziar
Paul Maziar is the author of a book of art writings, ONE FOOT IN THE OTHER WORLD, plus a handful of chapbooks of poems including TO THE AIR, a collaboration with artist Cynthia Lahti (Cooley Gallery); NEW KIND OF NEIGHBORHOOD, a collaboration with Sam Lohmann (Great Fainting Spells); and LITTLE ADVANTAGES (Couch Press). His first full-length book of poems, QUICK MILLIONS, was published by Cuneiform Press and his forthcoming full-length, JUNEBUG, is forthcoming from Understory Books. He’s the proprietor of Breather Editions and, alongside Aaron Simon, editor of Ergo Press.
Jason Herr
Jason Herr graduated with a BFA from Pennsylvania College of Art and Design in 2015. He has shown in galleries in Lancaster, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, New York City, Paris, Antwerp and Leeds England. He won best in show for the Thrive exhibit at the Sunshine Gallery in 2014. He has contributed illustration work for Mondo Zero press, Kus! comics, Lifted Brow magazine, and Future Islands. Jason also routinely publishes and distributes his own zines.
"In my work I often see a duality. It exists in between high and low brow, or absurd while also having a sense of anxiety. I create narrative work that is still ambiguous. I work in flattened spaces but also try to render objects to add depth. I am interested in treading between looseness and tightness. I am inspired by outsider art as well as expert craftsmen. I am wedging myself between these two things hoping to find the best elements of both. I incorporate these ideas into works that explore fascinations that shaped my interests and personality in early childhood as well as the confusion and acceptance of my environment in adult life."