"kinkos" poems
Here at Kinkos
We have a saying, “copies of copies”
You are trained to always ask for a source file
The digital file of the picture the camera took
The negatives of digital cameras
You see because when you print a picture from that file it’s the best it will ever be
Every detail captured in that moment stored in bits and bytes ready
If you make a copy of that picture it will never be as good
And if you make a copy of that copy it’ll be even worse
And if you were to make a copy of the hundredth copy of the ninety ninth copy you might not even recognize the image
Whether it’s a speck of dust on the scanner
Or a crease in the print out
Sun stains from prolonged exposure to the elements
Or simply from time
Copies never look as good as the original
Even if you try and protect them
And even if you were to magically protect that photo from any external forces
The next copy still won’t be the same quality
A scanner can never pick up every detail from the print on the glass
Copies of copies are never the same
Sometimes the printer is calibrated different
Sometimes it’s a heavy magenta day
Sometimes it’s a saturated cyan day
Maybe you touched her face when you handed it over
And now every copy has a feint of your thumb print above her eyebrow
You had him taped to your rearview mirror for a whole year
And now every copy you make has a glare where the tape used to be
It blocks out his heart shaped hands he was making you from the bus window
Folded in your wallet and now all the copies have white spaces where her face was
I mean where the creases were
I’ve heard that when you remember something you are simply remembering the last time you remembered it
Memories of memories
So that after you’ve remembered her a thousand times you’ve forgotten all the details you forgot to remember the time before
So that the more you remember something, the faster you’ll forget
Maybe that’s why we forget exes faster than family
Maybe that’s why we forget the great parts of high school before the painful ones
I remember that you had red hair, that your eyes were kind, that your hands fit my cheek
I remember that you were bad at pool and that it felt like love, and if it wasn’t you’re the only one that knew it
And now I’m wondering after all these years what I’m forgetting to remember
What I forgot to remember last time
What did I forget this time
What won’t I remember next time
Memories of memories
Like copies of copies
Fading over time
If I never wanted to forget the best moments of my life
Should I never remember them
Is the fastest way to forget the bad ones
To remember them often
Dec 17, 2015
Dec 17, 2015 at 11:46 PM UTC
It's Wednesday, April 2, 1997, at 12:00 PM
I took a Greyhound bus to Des Moines, Iowa
It was a six-hour profanity demon hellride
At 6:00 PM, the Greyhound bus arrived at the Des Moines bus station
Two of my music fans picked me up and drove me to Fort Dodge, Iowa
Hell Greyhound bus ride
Hell Greyhound bus ride
Hell Greyhound bus ride
Hell Greyhound bus ride
At 2:00 PM on Friday, April 4, 1997, I went on a radio show joyride
I whipped out my Technics KN3000 keyboard and sung four rock songs on 88.1 KICB
At 6:30 PM, I rode with my friends to Knights of Columbus for sound checking
At 9:30 PM, I got up on stage and sung twenty rock songs in front of 200 rock fans
Hell Greyhound bus ride
Hell Greyhound bus ride
Hell Greyhound bus ride
Hell Greyhound bus ride
At 11:20 AM on Saturday, April 5, 1997, I caught the Greyhound bus to Chicago, Illinois
The Greyhound bus left Des Moines, Iowa at 11:30 AM
It was an eight-hour profanity demon hellride without music
At 7:30 PM, the Greyhound bus arrived at the Chicago bus station
I then got off the intercity bus and yelled like a stupid fool
Hell Greyhound bus ride
Hell Greyhound bus ride
Hell Greyhound bus ride
Hell Greyhound bus ride
Kinkos, it's the new way to office
Jan 23, 2014
Jan 23, 2014 at 10:27 PM UTC
I am a good person to the max
I am a good guy in Jesus' name
I am a brilliant young man
I am so handsome like Gretel
Wesley Willis
Wesley Willis
Wesley Willis
Wesley Willis
I am a rock soloist
I am a rock singer on the Wesley Willis Fiasco
I am a cityscape skyscraper artist
I am a working class dog
Wesley Willis
Wesley Willis
Wesley Willis
Wesley Willis
I am a nice guy in Jesus' name
I have a mean schizophrenia demon in my head
My demon racks me with profanity
My demon tells me lies and says I'm a **** a *** and an *******
My demon keeps me from joy bus riding by torturing me
Wesley Willis
Wesley Willis
Wesley Willis
Wesley Willis
Kinkos, it's the copy center
Jan 23, 2014
Jan 23, 2014 at 10:24 PM UTC
Here still?
Complicated?
It’s just printing papers
But, I’ve shown you how ten times now
PRESS PRINT
May 19, 2014
May 19, 2014 at 11:00 PM UTC
Today. I was almost hit by a car,
wearing a scarlet dress
the way I least wanted to die
by the grill of an SUV.
The engine grinned hotly in my face.
the look on his face was priceless
I bet mine was better.
as I gasped, no room in
vocal cords for screaming
held my hands out
as if that would stop the metal from moving
tires screeched.
I don't know why he turned so sharply
I don't know why I put my arms out
or had to walk that way
that particular day
my hands shook in line
at kinkos, holding back every chemical
mixing violently.
saying please and thank you
for two sheets of paper
that could have mattered less
pulling sunglasses
over my face with a case of the shakes
life just stamped me with an appreciation
for itself
only taught by almost getting hit by an SUV.
life went on around me, the workers in yellow on the corner
got a few moments of thrill.
the folks at Starbucks
the other people grinding their teeth at the stoplights.
a moment excitement.
Jun 27, 2011
Jun 27, 2011 at 10:02 AM UTC
Absolute Power enters the DRIVE today'
Fitting because lawyers are on the way
Power is as power plays
I am going to show you what for
Kinkos for copies of all your records
Bank for years of transitions
There will be no room for wiggling
You will have to give in, get out
I will take more of your spitting when you shout
Your violence in my face must end.
Oh I have kept a record of all harmful events
Lawyers like that in cases of denial
Or even if we go to trail
I have kept records of all you have done
In the end I will say I have won
No matter the outcome of the law
I won't have to feel hurt, alone and raw
There will be no more hiding myself to protect myself
There will be no more anger as a response to my pain
How selfish, what hell
You never have been present and that is a serious problem
You cannot be, and so I am walking
You do me more harm than good
I do and have loved you, from the 80's til I die
But I am doing you no favors by letting you stay stale old and dry
You need to grow and I do too
So it is time for me to say goodbye to you
You will always be my first love
The one who came to get me
But you never really GOT me
and it is a shame that you click that tv until you lay down
I am nothing but a service provider
Never the source of anything but a frown
I need to be free and smile all the time
Without you disturbing my balance
I know you will miss my talents
But not my body, not my warmth
Not my wit, not my colors
only how your routine is gone
and how I was like your mother
May 5, 2014
May 5, 2014 at 11:37 AM UTC
I’ll have every female ****** up with just my smile of my teeth
Till I’m eating you out with all of my welfare smile that I scored from EBT
I’ll have every female ****** up till enwombed married, then give all of you wrinkles
Like just sellin all my cd covers like we’re to marry at kinkos
I’ll have every female see that I’ve made it at battle heights
Till I’m searching through all of your phones for more women like I owned every satellite
I’ll have you overeating food like my soul was in marriage desperation
Have you thinkin wedding like every pound of my *** in ************
I’ll have every female ****** up collecting poetry like Irish things
To have you scared while I’m swinging my fist at your belly to all of you when pregnant when I’m smelling like Irish spring
Feb 20, 2018
Feb 20, 2018 at 1:01 PM UTC