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Page 185

Fuck You, Blank Page!

Words? WORDS? Hey, I don't need no steenking words!
Hey! You want words? I fill you up with scribble!
I tear you up to make nice nests for birds.

I shit on you! My periods -- little turds.
I vomit on you, piss and drool and dribble!
You want words? I don't NEED no steenking words!

I rip in thirds...again!...again in thirds,
Then shove them into crannies where mice nibble.
I tear you up to make nice nests for birds

Or fill you up with numbers (for the nerds) --
Or prophesies, then cage you like poor Sibyl.
You beg for words? Who needs your steenking words?!

I stampede buffalos, crush you with herds!
To feed my mutt, I grind you into kibble!
I shred you up to make nice nests for birds.

This dumb banditto accent quite absurd is --
It comes and goes, it's fake, but let's not quibble.
The point is, I don't need no steenking words.
I tear you up. You make nice nest for birds.

[I also don't need no steenking critics who object to exclamation points.
I'm excited, OK!!!]

Note: Another villanelle, this one based on the immortal line uttered by the bandit chief (played by Alphonse Bedoya) in the classic movie, Treasure of the Sierra Madre. When he and his men pretend to be Federales so they can search the knapsacks of Humphrey Bogart (looking for gold), Bogart gets suspicious and demands to see their badges. Bedoya, who has weirdly striking delivery in this and other movies (e.g., The Big Country), says, "Bahj!? BAHJ!! I don' need no steenkeeng baaahj!" Here the poet addresses the blank page. He's tired of trying to supply the demanded words.

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