Mr Roy G Guzmán, whose tweet appears below, describes himself as “a marginalised writer,” and an “artist and influencer,” thereby signalling to lower beings both his suffering and his modesty. He’s also, it seems, a tad sensitive:
Note the gratuitous use of white woman. Perhaps that tells us something about Mr Guzmán’s poetic soul. A sample of Mr Guzmán’s creative output, titled Queerodactyl, is reproduced in full below. But before we venture further, you may wish to grip the arms of your chair:
My heart was a dystopian
berry budding in water tiger
lilies claiming
hocus-pocus wonder. I was broken
vanity, vixen vase, victorious tête-
à-tête — the Scrabble game nobody won
because the tiles aspired speculums.
Ocean-misaligned brook / brook-misaligned
agua
— where else could these gospels have dawned
if not in the bellies of men
hyenaing a becoming?
Twerking in church,
I outperformed the candles
diarized in the simpleminded annexation. Wussup,
Blastoise
with the veiniest homebound
pika-pika aim?
Wussup, Sims
Chumbawamba Family Portrait Simulation?
St. Sunny of the Sissies
beheld the bukkake throng
of mojo-coated cartilage
squandered
on the refurbished bunk
for new cetaceans. A dazzling jeremiad
shone me dead
until I gridlocked the algebraic expressions
of my body in question marks.
These syndicated fiyahs
stigmatized my herculean magma
shades,
but I held these walls apart,
every inch of my mascara cut off
apple pie.
You watched me hobble home
while the streets coalesced magenta. Tell Momma
the holes I cover with one error
swell — & there are only inadvertent landscapes
to dollop with nonetheless.
I’ll give you a moment to process that. To internalise its immensity.
Mr Guzmán tells us that he “holds degrees from the University of Minnesota, Dartmouth College, the University of Chicago, and the Honors College at Miami Dade College,” and is “pursuing a PhD in Cultural Studies (Comparative Studies in Discourse and Society) at the University of Minnesota.” Mr Guzmán is now violently blocking lots of people on Twitter.
Update, via the comments:
After dismissing the recent, rather negative appraisals of his poetry as driven by “toxic masculinity” and “(white) male fragility” - no other possibilities being conceivable, of course - Mr Guzmán has apparently retired from Twitter. We are, it seems, a terrible disappointment to him. Such are the travails of artistic genius. Or rather, such are the effects of spending so much time in the Clown Quarter of academia, where narcissism and flummery are indulged - and consequently being ill-prepared for anything approaching honesty.
Via sk60.
Band name
"like the unspaced brownbodiesredbodiesyellowbodiesblackbodies
of colonial misogynistxenophilia" is actually a Chumbawumba lyric.
Posted by: Lancastrian Oik | December 17, 2018 at 15:37
Poetry is where you find it.
By George, yes you can find poetry anywhere, I call that one, "Appendectomy is Rape".
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | December 17, 2018 at 15:59
Begun the poem wars have.
Posted by: David | December 17, 2018 at 16:03
A sound
a sound of grinding
a sound of grinding whining
a sound of grinding whining metal
death
A smell
a smell of burning
a smell of burning acrid
a smell of burning acrid metal
death
Save your misogynistic mansplaning
i will not earthrape Mother Gaia for oil for any reason
Save your misogynistic mansplaing
only the proletariat can truly seize my engine
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | December 17, 2018 at 16:16
Something tells me it’s going to be a long evening.
Posted by: David | December 17, 2018 at 16:20
only the proletariat can truly seize my engine
... and that's from "Springsteen On Broadway".
Posted by: Lancastrian Oik | December 17, 2018 at 16:26
soft golden glow
accents
warm magenta orange rising
over purple red
no dawn can compare
to the reflections from your hair and nose ring
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | December 17, 2018 at 16:30
... and that's from "Springsteen On Broadway".
Hmmmmpf.
To quote Picasso, "Good artists copy, great artists steal."
Now if you will excuse me, I will return to my muse, there is at least a quart left.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | December 17, 2018 at 16:35
or woke Star Wars, where the explanations favoured involved “sexism,” “toxic fandom” and “toxic masculinity,” rather than a failure to create a product that audiences were happy with.
Three forms of storytelling,
or,
The Once And Future Jedi, by T.H. White,
or,
Poor Mickey Mouse, he has indigestion and gout.
Posted by: Hal | December 17, 2018 at 16:43
Poetry updated.
Posted by: Hal | December 17, 2018 at 16:45
A poetry slam! I always wondered why that term sounded so violent! :D
Posted by: JuliaM | December 17, 2018 at 17:03
Once again, relevant:
https://youtu.be/qmlYe2KS0-Y
Posted by: Squires | December 17, 2018 at 17:21
TIL that Vogons live amongst us.
Posted by: Paul | December 17, 2018 at 18:27
Please don't quote the poems, that's cultural appropriation.
Posted by: Paul Nottingham | December 17, 2018 at 18:34
Upon rereading (I know, a fool's errand) Queerodactyl, I realized that my previous works will never get a grant as they actually make sense, so channeling Senor Guzman, I offer the following, "Shillelaghsaurus".
Hark the herald angles
a full fourty fathoms down.
Bismarkian depth's unsullied overtures
cleave to riven railroads tsunami of ersatz joy;
On another continent a gem world whorl whirls
stuporous
while a hooker's red light delight fastens
sonorous diadems of cataleptic politicians overcoats of righteousness.
' Still...
still stills of stills on stilts on the sill, silted, slotted, slatternly sluttish, slothlike soothsayers
dwell on amoebic symbiosis.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | December 17, 2018 at 18:51
BTW, Roy, if you are following any of this, all the works herein are copyrighted "David's Genuine Yorkshire Poetry Slam™", so don't even think of plagiarizing - we'll be watching...
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | December 17, 2018 at 18:57
For most of my adult life I’ve been willing to give Van Dyke Parks a free pass for ”columnated ruins domino”.
Having read this thread, now I ain’t so sure.
Posted by: Lancastrian Oik | December 17, 2018 at 19:33
Well Ian, nobody else seemed to notice your Scrabble catch, but I think you nailed it. Excellent. To be fair to Mr Guzman (now the second most famous Guzman I'd wager) how much time has the Western world spent on your pretentious post-Scrabble ponderings?
Check and mate for Mr Guzman.
Posted by: Sam | December 17, 2018 at 22:46
Horseshow Haiku
Near backyard sunset
Old, naked horseshoes play
By the rubber boots
Posted by: FlynPigRanch | December 17, 2018 at 22:56
Oh my rubber boots,
It is chilly and windy.
With heavy horseshoes,
And two without clothes, naked.
When it farts I feel frightened.
Merry Christmas to all! And to all a Good Night!
Posted by: FlynPigRanch | December 17, 2018 at 23:19
"Obviously hasn't seen the new woke Doctor Who."
Remind me. Does SJW stand for 'Social Jodie Warrior' or 'Social Justice Whittaker'?
Posted by: Barney | December 18, 2018 at 00:46
Only one man can save us from the onslaught of bad poetry.
Posted by: Daniel Ream | December 18, 2018 at 00:47
A Frosty Woke Tale
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And being non binary I could travel neither
And still be woke, so long I stood
Without a signal or electronic good
Succumbing to a patriarchal fever;
For with no signal, no Uber fare,
Neither Lyft, nor taxi could be enabled,
I was left marooned with none to care;
All that remained was to put thumb to air,
Though blue hair and piercing would get me labeled.
Intersectionality would see me stranded
At this intersection, how ironic,
My public grant check had not landed
Leaving me walking aimless and empty-handed,
Though, nonetheless I felt iconic.
I shall be telling this while high
to a party of fellow soyboi rebels:
I burnt down that fcuking wood, and I-
At once understood Lennon's Norwegian cry
And the deals that we make with the devil.
Posted by: Steve E | December 18, 2018 at 01:26
When you throw yourself on top of one of them to save the rest of us, we'll speak of you fondly at the regimental club.
Why would I need to do that after I dug that nice slit trench for you in the middle of your pub?
Posted by: pst314 | December 18, 2018 at 02:15
Never fear. When in doubt, one can always go to the classics.
Posted by: Hal | December 18, 2018 at 03:18
Batten the hatches, there may be a Moronolanche from Ace about this topic.
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | December 18, 2018 at 03:40
Mr Roy G Guzmán… describes himself as “a marginalised writer,”
Affirmative action poetry. It's not good but who cares?
Posted by: sH2 | December 18, 2018 at 08:13
Affirmative action poetry. It’s not good but who cares?
It is, I think, a possibility to consider.
Certainly, Mr Guzmán’s intimations of victimhood and oppression are rather dubious, given that his own status, such as it is, has quite possibly been enabled by racial favouritism and racial fetishism, courtesy of other race-fixated lefties and left-dominated institutions. Such that The Atlantic will gush over his poems about “queer brown bodies” - without actually sharing any of them with readers, or even linking to examples, as if the particulars were less important the writer’s pigmentation - and while thrilling to Mr Guzmán’s brownness, as if it were a credential, the measure of validity, and a basis for acclaim.
Posted by: David | December 18, 2018 at 08:44
On the assertion there are no bad writers, only bad traders and this studying observation:
This attitude seems to explain the various "Theory" based academic outpourings. If you don't connect the various strings of word soup you are reading into a whole it's your own fault and, as a writer, it's better to be more opaque because if you leave something coherent it may be possible to argue against it whereas if it's totally incomprehensible you can blame the reader for being insufficiently ascended to comprehend. You'd have thought Sokal and Sokal Squared might have acted as an Emperor's new clothes moment for this sort of thing, but the culture seems to evened as yet.
Posted by: TomJ | December 18, 2018 at 09:42
You’d have thought Sokal and Sokal Squared might have acted as an Emperor’s new clothes moment for this sort of thing,
I don’t think narcissism is amenable to refutation, or indeed shame.
Posted by: David | December 18, 2018 at 09:48
Typically off topic, but not sure if this has been posted.
I think it works whether you agree with leftist dogma or not.
Posted by: Charlie Suet | December 18, 2018 at 09:49
Posted by: Zionist Overlord #73 | December 18, 2018 at 10:15
@ Zionist Overlord #73
Posted by: Farnsworth M Muldoon | December 18, 2018 at 11:16
Is that Neil Gaiman getting busted by ee cummings man?
Posted by: Patrick Brown | December 18, 2018 at 12:56
@Farnsworth M Muldoon
Thank you.
I had originally written it as simple satire, but then I realized I could add some spaces and make it poetry.
Posted by: Zionist Overlord #73 | December 18, 2018 at 13:50
then I realized I could add some spaces and make it poetry.
LOL
(or, as the kool kidz say, KEK).
Posted by: Spiny Norman | December 18, 2018 at 17:19
Who Are We Not To Judge
Joseph Mirra
The precepts of the Lord are pretty clear—
What’s right or wrong is plain enough to see.
And yet the question that we often hear,
Is who are we to judge what shouldn’t be.
It seems the ban on judgment trickled down
From other people to the deeds performed;
To say, “that’s wrong,” will likely draw a frown—
Excusing all’s the choice of the informed.
Again the easy way is taken out;
We’re given props without a price to pay.
If this were really what life was about,
Then who would ever fear the judgment day?
That day when judgments due the greatest blame
May be the evils we refused to name.
https://www.firstthings.com/article/2018/06/who-are-we-not-to-judge
Posted by: Baceseras | December 18, 2018 at 17:38
Is that Neil Gaiman getting busted by ee cummings man?
Quite possibly. The original artist is Ste Dillon, and Neil remembers him fondly.
Posted by: Daniel Ream | December 18, 2018 at 18:55
I read some poems today, oh boy
And listened to a band named
Unspaced brown bodies
And though their fan base is rather small
They do play ska
I don't know why white women don't give them the attention they deserve
I'd love to turn you - someone - anyone - on......
Apologies to Paul & John.
Posted by: D 2 | December 19, 2018 at 01:29
I can do no better than take a quote from the great man's poetry:
"dollop"
There, that sums it up.
Posted by: Watcher In The Dark | December 19, 2018 at 19:21
When I read the article, I was struck by Guzman's shockingly fragile psyche, his pose of being the most easily bruised rose petal on the bush, that he would actually find scary, scary violence in someone's approach to reading poetry. Snowflake, indeed.
Until I stopped and remembered these people are the same ones who will wilfully ignore the depredations of totalitarian regimes world 'round, and who act as apologists and cheering squad for their pet goons in Antifa.
What I wonder: Is the pose of snowflake a conscious head-fake, or is it somehow a dual psychological state in which the two opposites somehow are never called to make their appearance on the stage at the same time?
It's hard to imagine someone being so frightened of potential violence of inadequate poetry appreciation while simultaneously wanting to punch Nazis.
I remember being little and lying so thoroughly about something that I half convinced myself that it was true (whatever it was that I was lying about). I think I'd prefer to think these leftists are self-deceived than cynical moralizing creeps who hold others to standards they have no intention to keep themselves.
Posted by: Smallish Bees | December 20, 2018 at 03:14
@Smallish: For my money it's the Renfield response. Someone who is so craven and weak of fibre, with nothing worthy to cling to that they haven't rejected, can crave only power that they know they can't competently wield and could never truly hold. They imagine themselves wielding the power... if only their grasp weren't so feeble, so they indulge an envious and worshipping fawn toward those who do exercise power.
It's well in their minds that everyone else be forced into the same subjugation and servility they have chosen for themselves. Any time they hold a fleeting reign on power, it's to bring others down into the gutter that they know they will inevitably collapse back into, themselves.
Even without contemplating the often comorbid psychosexual hangups that all implies, it's an utterly revolting mindset.
Posted by: Sporkatus | December 20, 2018 at 17:10
Search for Hancock's Half Hour, The Poetry Society.
Anthony Aloysius and Sydney were way ahead of their time.
Posted by: WJohn | December 20, 2018 at 18:55
It's hard to imagine someone being so frightened of potential violence of inadequate poetry appreciation while simultaneously wanting to punch Nazis.
It's equally and entirely Me!!!!! Me!!!!! Me!!!!! Me!!!!! Me!!!!! Me!!!!! Me!!!!! Me!!!!! Me!!!!!
My poetry which is required to be admired, that Nazi variety of narcissist who is required to be beaten because of supporting an identity other than mine, Of Course dictators are to be admired because I too am to be a dictator and where you are required to worship MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
Etc.
Posted by: Hal | December 21, 2018 at 01:05
Spork and Hal, wow, those interpretations are even bleaker than mine! The words thing about true fools, rather than just people who should know better, is that they are not harmless.
Posted by: Smallish Bees | December 21, 2018 at 23:45