Three Poems by Stephen Bett

 

Runnin’ in the Gaps

 

Well my steady little DOLL is a real-LIVE beauty

And everybody knows she’s a Car Crazy Cutie

 

Wo oh oh oh yeah  (Run a-run a doo run run)

 

Nailed a doll’s space     Hailed a meth cab for cutie’s place

 

In·finit·es·i·mal aces    (cover bases    (leave no traces

 

Two-side sheet a’ paper

Pet sounds cordUroy squawker

Twin odor toe·baccy + mouth (yum’eye)

Married by infra·SIN !

 

Take her to the DRAGS, man, and everyone flips

... big blue eyes and her candy apple lips

... man, talk of lovin’ some kisses and hugs 

she’s like to take ’em clean and gap the plugs

 

Wo yeah  (Run a-run a doo run run)

Rrmm ...   Rrmm ...

 

Well plug mah gapin’ mouth

(pull my daisy, cootie’s no crazy)

 

Gonna fill my GAP and comb my hair

crank ’er doll case up yr back stair

 

Pluck’it!      ... you better run, girl

You’re much too rung, girl

Such a bung, gurl

Ah’m just a sap in disguise

 

Dis non·union yap gap

aint got no slap [1]

 

Ba Ba Ba (rockin’ & a-rollin’)

Ba ba ba, ba Barber San

You got me rockin’ and a-rollin’ ...

 

Fillin’ an infra gap combover doo

good enuf for you, foo

 

Tried Peggy Sue...      Tried Betty Lou...  

                           Tried Merry lil’ Roo

But we knew they wouldn’t do

 

There’s a crew in the loo

talk abt that North Oirish upper

palate all-action (hoho):

 

Lamaded te tair-tree chensus

Never get it straight that rate, mate

 

Whoa —        Stop tape an’other sec

we aint Peggy Sue (never wuz)

no matta how coo at the loo

 

Buddy’s —       no’ some uⱭDer mutt’s Boo

tha’s miЯRor’s Foo-Foo or us, innit?

 

It’s your party, cry if you want to

we’s all been gored by now (anyhow)

these fake times do rue

 

Gored, goo’d & glued        woo-woo’d

gooey t’ dewy        Louie Lou-eyed

we’m cross-eyed slo-mo softie-pie’d

bran’ name cooties        -tivio, -bibio

(goo-goo on you’io)

                  

Sho’nuff sounds like wiz ready for 

Big Pharma Boomer Dump

Far·xiga (hey, too far out!)

Ja®·d(I)ance —   you are the dance

right thru zone-out [2]

 

What you do to me

Oh, What you do to me

Oh, What you do to me little gal pal (…oops)

Oh, Have another hit of swEEt air

… another hit of Fresh Air

 

Fave song no so sweet ’n fresh

anymore, she rued

 

Oh, Have another hit of sweet Bitis Q’lumbia Sunshine

Oh, Have another hit

(Piano Solo…)

 

Fan’tassy Gaarden World

—  a·Muse·ment park  —

no Sole Mio there’io

 

This bill’s been flesh-minted

new combover doo, brite OR’ange

birth’d (& sue’d) Orangutan Mom

 

It’s the sizzle not the steak, Cupcake

(da bomb in bombastic)

 

And that’s enuf beef for you

bully bouillon boog-a-Boo [3]

 

[1] Beach Boys, “Car Crazy Cutie”; The Kinks, “I gotta Move”; Gary Puckett & the Union Gap, “Young Girl”; “infinitesimal spaces... married by infrathin,” etc. (Duchamp bio)

[2] Beach Boys, “Barbara Ann”; Lesley Gore, “It’s My Party”; Northern Irish Spurs’ football podcaster complaining that Tottenham forwards were “limited to two or three chances” (doink)

[3] Quicksilver Messenger Service, “Fresh Air”; & remembering the narcissistic, moronic, far-right British Columbia Premier (& “entrepreneur,” ahem) Bill (“the sizzle not the steak”) Vander Zalm’s buffoonish pronunciation of his oft-embarrassed political fiefdom’s provincial name; Bill Maher (unsucessfully) sued for claiming Donald Trump’s mother was an orangutan (fun fact)

Breaking into song, or breaking it apart? Maybe a bit of both. Simultaneously a celebration & a send up of iconic pop culture lyrics. SongBu®st is a book-length serial poem that plays like a metafiction anchored on Marcel Duchamp’s concept of infrathin, & featuring characters, or rather figures, recurring & reframing themselves throughout. 

Stephen Bett is a widely and internationally published Canadian poet with 25 books in print. His personal papers are archived in the “Contemporary Literature Collection” at Simon Fraser University. His website is StephenBett.com

ScBett@outlook.com

Website: StephenBett.com