SoMa Literary Review - Aaron on the Mountain Top

Aaron on the Mountain Top

By Jan Steckel

Dedicated to Oakland/Houston slam champ Aaron Trump

Bad poetry is so inspiring:

I sing “I can do better than that” and do it.

But the good stuff, heaven-juice, holler of genius,

pure moon-shining boot-legging kick-ass first-class

cut-glass crystal liquid death

knocks me to my knees.

What the hell, what's the use?

What the fuck, I'm screwed.

I'm done. Amen!

Somebody sang me to heaven again.

I'm nude, mediocre,

a joke, I'm broken. Must have been

toking to think I could ever -

(Between my ears a curtain is ripping.)

You're so damned good

if you bled on those black-painted Texas floorboards

I'd lick up the drops before they stopped dripping.

Great work's supposed to push me higher,

flash fire in my brain pan and set it sizzling,

but I just fizzle. I'm fried. I'm toast,

I'm a wheezing ghost

when you open your mouth

and those axe-swinging angels

rage the hell out.

Also by Jan Steckel on SoMa Literary Review:

On the Street, The Necropolis Next Door, The Gold Club, Performance Anxiety, Charity After the Hurricane, Getting Slammed & 35th Avenue Ladybug

Oakland writer and performance poet Jan Steckel’s work has also appeared in Margin, Lodestar Quarterly, BiMagazine, The Pedestal Magazine. She is the author of The Underwater Hospital.