Wednesday 23 March 2022

Two Poems by Antonia Alexandra Klimenko

 


side order 

 

don't leave my bed on Sundays 

don't go to church to pray 

i leave my back door open 

and i'm open every day 

 

you can worship at my altar 

just get down on your knees 

i m not the flesh of Mary 

but i still aim to please 

 

plastic Jesus on my dashboard 

my upholstery wearing thin 

they say God is dead 

but She's just knockin' back a gin 

 

or whiskey in the parlour 

milk and honey on the mind 

while the Devil's in your pantry  

robbing you blind     'course 

 

your hunger for my pleasure's 

bound to keep us satisfied  

you can hunt for buried treasure 

i'll strike oil between your thighs 

 

or tattoo your broken promises 

across my breaking heart 

have anything on my menu 

or just  order a la carte  

 

come worship at my drive-in  

come roll a dream or two 

smoke the whole damn joint down 

boy   it's your funeral   too 

 

they say God is dead  

but   Lord knows   She's just chillin'  

when the world has gone to hell  

come see me if you're willin'                            

 

honey   pass the collection plate 

you know love takes its toll 

come offer up a tear or two 

it's good for the soul 


 

the low-down weary blues  

  

it's a quarter past two  

and my man ain't home 

i lie awake in bed  

i listen for the phone 

but it ain't ringin’ 

and my heart's begun to moan 

i got the lowdown weary blues 

 

he beats me in the mornin’  

he stays out late at night 

he doesn't pay the rent  

spends money on highlife  

he’s a liar and a cheat  

brings me trouble  toil and strife 

i got the low down weary  blues 

 

bloodstains on my pillow 

sour whisky on my breath 

as if we're not already dyin’ 

i worry ‘bout my death 

i can't afford a funeral 

i ain't got no tears left  

i got the lowdown weary blues 

 

the rats are in the parlour 

eating bread and honey 

the bats are in the belfry 

acting kinda funny 

the cat s out of tune 

he dogs are barkin’ 

the melody's broken  

the days are markin’ 

my name on a tombstone  

the angels be harkin’ 

and calling me soooon 

 

cause  

there s a wound in my heart  

that can't ever heal 

the hole's soooo big  

i can’t even feel 

the train passing through  

leaving its sorry tracks 

i cry the whole night through                 

but he ain't commin bac 

 

my pleas are on their knees                                             

fallin’ straight to hell 

he d be pawning my soul  

if  i didn’t already sell it 

i be causin’ him pain 

is the way he'd like to tell it 

i feel bad and that ain’t good 

but it's so hard to leave 

why don't i just stay a spellll 

 

we live in a blind alley 

on a street of memory 

my dreams are second-hand    

and reality ain't free 

in this broken down hotel room   

we don t even own the key 

there’s no where to go  

but up     you see 

 

blood stains on my pillow  

sour whiskey on my breath 

as if we ain’t already dying  

i worry bout my death 

i d finish this song  

but i aint t got no words left 

I got the lowdown weary bluessssssssss 



 

Antonia Alexandra Klimenko was first introduced on the BBC and to the literary world by the legendary James Meary Tambimuttu of Poetry London–-publisher of T.S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas, Henry Miller and Bob Dylan, to name a few.  his death, it was his friend, the late great Kathleen Raine, who took an interest in her writing and encouraged her to publish.  A nominee for the Pushcart Prize and a former San Francisco Poetry Slam Champion, she is widely published. Her work has appeared in (among others) XXI Century World Literature (which she represents France) and Maintenant : Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art archived at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. and New York’s Museum of Modern Art. She is the recipient of two grants: one from Poets in Need, of which Michael (100 Thousand Poets for Change) Rothenberg is a co-founder; the second—the 2018 Generosity Award bestowed on her by Kathleen Spivack and Joseph Murray for her outstanding service to international writers through SpokenWord Paris where she is Writer/ Poet in Residence.  Her collected poems On the Way to Invisible is forthcoming in 2022. 

 

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