the young american poets, they are a-changin'

so yes, we've been absent for a little while, for reasons fair and strong enough to halt our regular posting.

basically, as you may have noticed, our masthead has changed. we welcome our good friend and longtime contributor to this blog Beatrice Kaplan (Pembroke, NH, 1985), who has recently joined our editorial team. that should put an end to our existence as a boys-only club, something we never intended to be.

as for our friend and YAP co-founder Julian Bailey, he is just taking a break from YAP to pursue an MFA in his native Arizona. let this post be a virtual yet warm send-off for him. Julian, you will be missed.

also, we want to announce that Young American Poets will undergo a major facelift, to be completed towards the end of November. we'll keep you posted about the news.

now, back to poetry.


The Young American Poets team

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america at a loss

i read an interview where ryszard said
look at art and you'll see what a society is up to
not exactly like that
(ryszard, you know, put his ideas in a much more elegant way)
but that was the concept, basically
(he was polish, a great journalist, a better thinker, look him up in wikipedia)

so i look at art in america
and i find julia allison
janet jackson half naked
televised singing contests
fifteen million dollar cascades
films that are content being just flicks
faster and more furious
and at the barrell's bottom
dirty and malnourished
i see poetry agonizing

(a century ago, someone said that "nothing but itself can harm american poetry")

empires don't last forever
we learnt with rome
these days, it seems
they are use and throw away

i look at art in america
and see america at a loss


julian bailey (Tucson, AZ, 1977)

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behold, the american idol

the american idol was some guy from guatemala
or honduras, i can't remember exactly
(i got tons of hate mail for that confusion)
let's agree he was from some country in central america
(fascist they called me, the gentler ones)
and he was the winner of a television singing contest

behold, the american idol
thou shalt worship yer teenage deity
let his singing guide us in the darkness

believing hurts
god's been on vacation
for a long time now
enjoying the amenities
of his time share
(god, don't let them fool you into buying an upgrade)

i look around but people have gathered in the arena
to see the idol from a safe distance
i feel alone
i see the dawn of the darkest age
no rat in a cage
no pig on antibiotics
just an outcast
a non believer
the last scum on earth


julian bailey (Tucson, AZ, 1977)

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