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Poem for Charles Bernstein


By Shane Allison



Charles Bernstein understands the human heart

I wish Charles Bernstein ruled the world  

Because of Charles Bernstein, I stay off the wrong side of the tracks

Charles Bernstein reminds me of Benny Hill

I touch the whiskers on Charles Bernstein's cat

Charles Bernstein says I could sleep in the basement  

I dream I could be a great teacher like none other than Charles Bernstein  

I cry because Charles Bernstein cries, too

I touch myself when thinking of Charles Bernstein wandering around inside me

I hear Charles Bernstein's motor bike rumbling down Martin Luther King Boulevard

I hear Charles Bernstein reading poetry at some crummy dive on the lower east side

Charles Bernstein is surrounded by flowers

I touch my lips when I see Charles Bernstein on stage

I taste the medicine Charles Bernstein gives me for my bronchitis  

I imagine Charles Bernstein writing in my dreams  

I am the man of the house when Charles Bernstein is gone    

Charles Bernstein brainwashed me into believing that I'm a platypus

I smell Charles Bernstein's freshly baked cherry pies

I wish Charles Bernstein would stop cheating off my math test

My mother is having Charles Bernstein over for dinner

I say that Charles Bernstein can read my thoughts

Without Charles Bernstein, things are sour and bitter

I hear Charles Bernstein still and silent

Wish I could speak a little more like Charles Bernstein

I see and remember Charles Bernstein

I know I am the illegitimate son of Charles Bernstein    

Because of Charles Bernstein, I am a potter  

I imagine Charles Bernstein standing on snow-capped mountains  

I don't want to think about what my life would be like without Charles Bernstein  

You say you never stopped loving me, I say there is someone else, and his name is Charles Bernstein    

I don't love you the same way I love Charles Bernstein  

Why do I wonder so about Charles Bernstein

I feel this wall separating me and Charles Bernstein

I try to overcome my fear of loneliness, but without  

The almighty words of Charles Bernstein, it's near

Impossible I enjoy small talk and big lies shared by Charles Bernstein

Don't you love this mink coat Charles Bernstein bought me

I wish I was a Buffalo , New Yorker like Charles Bernstein

I say things no one else understands except Charles Bernstein  

Imagine Charles Bernstein wearing a pink bunny suit

I hope Charles Bernstein will come to my house and play Yahtzee with me

I see Charles Bernstein in the fog of Manhattan

I wonder if Charles Bernstein knows if I will ever get married

I see Charles Bernstein looking back at me in the mirror

Charles Bernstein invited me to stay the week at his condo in Aspen  

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