OK I give up ... here's ... My f*cking virus poem

in the city of the undead
6 ft apart
your cough I dread
your breath
where's your mask
get the fuck away from me
I'm busy not touching groceries
locked down in my room
as the hero’s work through doom and gloom
in the city of the undead
6ft apart
we wait instead
don't touch
there are corpses
death by viral sources
nurses underdressed
doctors depressed
workers
drivers
all looking for protection
"orange man boasting perfection
death from oblivious discombobulation"
©Jane SpokenWord

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Street poet Jane SpokenWord’s performances represent the spoken word as it is meant to be experienced, raw, uncensored and thought provoking. From solos, to slams, duos, trios, and bands, including a big band performance at The Whitney Museum with Avant-Garde Maestro Cecil Taylor which garnered All About Jazz’s Best of 2016. Other collaborations include: Min Tanaka, Miguel Algarin, Beat Poet John Sinclair, her son HipHop musician/producer, DJ Nastee, and her partner in all things, Albey onBass. Combining the elements of spoken word, music, sound and song “Like those of the Jazz poets, the Beats, The Last Poets, Gil Scott-Heron and others – she is usually accompanied by Albey onBass Balgochian’s moaning, groaning, rumbling contrabass – adding double the gut-punch to her words.” (Raoul daGama) To preserve the cultural heritage of wording to document life, and foster a broader collective community, she brings her poetry and spoken word to a diverse set of venues including museums, festivals, libraries, slam lounges, art galleries, clubs, busking street corners and living rooms everywhere. She has authored two books of poetry with art and music by co-author Albey onBass: Word Against the Machine and Tragically Hip. Publications include: TV Baby A collection of Lower East Side artists – OHWOW, Shadow of The Geode, Bonsia Press, Stars in the Fire and Palabras Luminosas – Rogue Scholars Express and We Are Beat in the National Beat Poetry Anthology.

Jane SpokenWord is WordCity Monthly’s Contributing Editor of Interviews and Podcasts.