Often to a Fault

" Often to a Fault "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Often to a fault
in a potential
windfall
as a quirk
in the tax law
with drawbacks
of exasperation
while puttering
in a haze
of fading
constraints
and into
the ostentatious
returning
of favors
like lingerie
that goes
without
saying
as a starting
place
greatly
out-numbering
paintings
in a constant
deluge
of polarizing
faces
Legendarily
intense
terrifyingly
oversized
staged
in unending
drives
with indecipherable
movie rights
no longer ungodly
in a silly costume
as an option
while leaping
off pages
of self-
identification
as a former
curator
after battling
a plague
with a blurb
as an explanation
of conflict or shame
centuries later
Collapsing
time and space
as a cross-legged
fall from grace
with intoxicating
scarification
and bristling
ostentation
as an outcrop
of conglomerates
besotted
by bygone
brachiopods
as fossils...

Double Lush

" Double Lush "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Double lush
luminous love
unretouched
sugar honey
perfect pucker
rosebud luster
hubba hubba
from down under
Preferable
to others
listed above
as various
bushy shrubs
numerous
clusters
of pale pulp
succulent
young
moxie-plum
Bare-knuckled
fisticuffs
addictive scrum
uncertain tumult
finely cut redbud
ground nut
fleshy berry
arrowhead...

Vaudevillian Slapstick in Lipstick

" Vaudevillian Slapstick in Lipstick "

by Suzán Jiván

Vaudevillian slapstick in lipstick
intermittently seen as piece offerings
in a sequined dress and high heels
while sitting primly on a balcony
complete with walkie talkies
for refugees as words pop
onto a screen suggestively
like age-old notions of identity
thought to be beleaguering
after an unveiling
unexposed and unmapped
in historical matters
of cantilevered detail
expanding and contracting to scale
with a kind of jet lag on a sprawling
scaffolding of early examples
of unswept hair especially flared
like heirlooms rarely surpassed
by longstanding hallucinatory
drawings of porcelain orbs
As supernatural as stop-action
on a smudgy canvas
of the old-fashioned
heavily impastoed
segments of dance
like mind travel
with ballast
Occasionally dabbling
with the dramatic
out of context
with feminist gestures
hanging
at different levels
compelled
by the contentious
potential
of leaden contenders
being portrayed
as vacuous
praise
like fleeting
creations
of independent
labels
with nothing
except
the legitimacy
of the still image
printed
in millimeters
whisked
without incident
into silent
films...

A Sharp Drop

" A Sharp Drop "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

A sharp drop
in obligatory stops
snubbing
some forerunners
in a blood sport
for a spoiler
of the poor
in a portrait
coiling
and recoiling
after
the extraordinary
flare
of a muzzle flash
Framed in bronze
inserted
between columns
of the long-
gone
like lightning
rods
in a war
monument
to conventional
art
from afar
but still
close
to the heart
with a provocative
home-
alone quality
as clippings
attest
to extensive
press
largely given
to men
in intense epithets
to the unpregnant...

Well Heeled

" Well Heeled "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Well heeled
as site-specific
and always riveting
with an acid tongue
and droll delivery
full of jokey
but largely
charm-free
preconceived
theater
like featured
premieres
of follies
in an underlying
high-minded muddle
in the middle of nothing
but the monotony
of a feckless freckle face
accessed as imperfection
opposed to adolescent
innocence
Slyly reinvented
smothering, bewildering
and fragmented
Directly in the sweet spot
of a typical odyssey
as an emerging body
inadvertently exposed
to free uploads
while acquiring their own
potency with blistering notes
in long-running shows
as a clown known
all over the globe
as an irreversible coma
In empathy with untested
enemies with only
a tenuous connection
while settling
for the unmentionable
tragic mashup
with a rotating cast
Ambitiously staged
as aging giving free reign
to appalling fascination
and poetic observation
like naysayers
in semi-stages
of the pseudo-sacred
waxing and waning
as gangsta strains...

A Fearlessly Original Eye

" A Fearlessly Original Eye "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

A fearlessly original eye
unprepared
for the honeyed
hostility
and acidic pleasantries
of an old sweetheart
like a brand-new motto
long since forgotten
loudly and clearly
in a steady stream
of placid freedom
beautifully acted
and carefully adapted
to changing realities
as a subconscious scream
From pitiable to downright admirable
bidding farewell to tiny white lies
as unlikely reminders
for the population at large
Amid the big
willingness to live
within a strict
grid system
as hardly limited
like granitic
culprits
of the familiar
linked
between misery
and authenticity
when pushed
through a straw
as long
as a square-jawed
courtship
of soothing wooing
with dewiness
and ridicule
as amusement
Posturing
with an attitude
of sourness
with an edge
of hysteria
and a steely
sense of self
as cherishable
when animated
with wise-
cracking veracity
as completely
pipsqueaky...

If You Missed the Grand Gala

" If You Missed the Grand Gala "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

If you missed the grand gala
while trying to catch
up to the bare
necessities
whizzing
at high speed
past
masterpieces
against flickering
screens
of catastrophes
in smoking
ruins
of black bamboo
as a cartoonist
of the venal
and foolish
with the satiric
draftsmanship
of a traditionalist
engendering
the kaleidoscopic
agenda
of a skeptic
like a former
director
of, " Let's
Get it Together! "
In new digs
going, " Pfffft ! "
after waking
up on sleepy
streets
without rhyme
or reason
in makeshift
seats
of sheathing
devoted
to the old days
navigating
through space
with solos
as the focus
in calibrated poses
of hocus-pocus
as ways to escape
the fast-paced
by snaking
across a baggage-
ladened stage...

It Needs to Be Repeated

" It Needs to Be Repeated "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

It needs to be repeated
deliberately
on a hand-held scale
in an expanse
from decades past
loosely branched
with downy hairs
pairing
as aromatic axils
and bracts
overwintering
with purplish lips
tinged with anise
in pine barrens
steeped
in pineapple tea
sprinkled with tansy
Spanning dense mats
along a central crease
of prominent pink
as a refreshing drink
with richly sweet
conical seeds
prickly, bristly
Seemingly endless
as sculptural splendor
with a penchant
for dissent
subtly and indirectly
as strict intellect
mixed with blousy figures
difficult to grasp
like harrowing histories
handsomely cross-hatched
and profusely patterned
in an occult tapestry
of frayed strands...

Best Suits Her Nature

" Best Suits Her Nature "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Best suits her nature
marching faces with names
as part of declarations
busily and consistently
akin to a polished mirror
sunset tinted and at a high pitch
Yet prevailing as passive
slack-jawed like paint splatter
whetted at random
along a horizontal arm
trapped where spectacle prevails
as stippled patches
of yellow and amber in a canon
Lumpen yet shimmering
opalescently
while slouching around
a sultry sculpture
ensnared
by a prankster
with a parodistical grin
fixed in the 50's
First and last
like a rhinestoned
dumpster diver
with a thorny side
and a poisonous bite
exclusively at night
ebony like
predicated on the sublime
as a reminder
of carefree scrapbooked lives
With more than one way
to wear a bath towel
unchallenged
and forever on tap
as a pastel palette
stretched out
then tightly wound
brash and brassy
as a bombastic
raised hand
notwithstanding
demonic clashes
and blasting
fanfares...

Will Also Underscore

" Will Also Underscore "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Will also underscore
taking over
overseeing
interactive
access
to lavender lilacs
and notions
of masculinity
both overdue
and a bit
behind the times
as a parade
of familiar names
along the way
as an extrapolation
of the seemingly tame
and unstraightly risqué
Ripped from today
toppled over a bank
crouching over
a dead opponent
drawing more crowds
with unseemly
immediacy
and authenticity
long since eclipsed
by a staunch supporter
in a small audience
as the best of all
sometimes pointless
like a clotheshorse
seeing wild oats
Marvelously flexible
and full
of possibility
enough
to make you dizzy
as a half-
dressed odalisque
on the periphery
piled
high with frippery
and festooned
in striped pantaloons
Plying the gap
between the artificial
and the natural
with a butterfly catch
held tightly
scratched and incised
scarifyingly fighting
for release
while nose diving
into a white
cube
with holes
in its ceiling
and a fingernails-
on-the-chalkboard feeling...

With a Deadpan Smirk

" With a Deadpan Smirk "

by Suzán Jiván

Perrformed on YouTube

With a deadpan smirk
increasing nerve
rattling sardonic gags
and antagonistic shtick
as a study in bliss
while still a bit gimpy
and deliberately oblivious
lost in a blizzard
after beginning to fizzle
with acidic witticisms
and head-spinning
verbal artillery
like scrolls of poetry
unrolling in rococo
willed into existence
nimbly and exquisitely
as funnily familiar
In high-rise buildings
defined by giant slides
corkscrewing confusingly
hailed at amusement
when ejecting viewers
for wearing birthday suits
still damp, stinging
and dazed, but grinning
after a wicked twist
with the privileged
devised as brilliant
when booked for overnights
as bored, violated and cranky
like an emulation
of sensory deprivation
becoming susceptible to strains
of mayhem in a meditative state
Meticulously painted
as an indication of gravitating
to the strange and pagan
as famously deranged
becoming eerily silent
while reading, " Keep to the Right " ...

Into Decline

" Into Decline "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Into decline
burdened
by growing
needs
under
staggering
shields
yielding
to swelling
ranks
of supposed
saviors
thrown
into danger
as a huge
redo
in a frieze-
like wound
of youth
and beauty
In an
appointment-
only space
as a suite
of galleries
for buzzing
honey bees
packed up
in a mobile
structure
being squeezed
between
whirring wings
laced with curry
and emptied
of nectar
while taking
place
in stages
of mono-
graphed
installations
made
of stiffening
clay
shaped
by haughty
curators
in order
to forestall
change
While
exhibiting
their favorites
in anticipation
of a reinstallation
within tents
and under
umbrellas
that keep
coming up
as entitle-
ments
renamed,
"Untitled"
coinciding
with the unsigned
nearly three times
the size of unoccupied
and preoccupied
like legislators
on wavers
made to hallucinate
during a driving reign...

Could Be a Landmark

" Could Be a Landmark "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Could be a landmark
applied to people
like ultraviolet rays
with diverse inclinations
in a prestigious chamber
with sounds of nature
nonplussed by tumult
in funereal black
difficult to capture
as a panoply
of slippery facets
like oil on canvas
partially dismantled
in exasperation
Partly financial
folded and printed
with polka dots
on gouache
while wrestling
and boxing
on a table top
for art lovers
of found objects
As absurdist monuments
like punchy murals
dwarfed by buildings
with infectious buoyancy
along a corse boardwalk
with a passing throng
in a worldly phenomenon
on concrete blocks
Affirming and reassuring
while engaging with the world
like converging sightlines
for really big ideas
In an unbroken wave
of adoration
as uncontainable vibrato
in the long-awaited
paying attention
to a sprawling creation
behind a ground-breaking
purple curtain
in a tender duet
with a soft melody
ranging easily
between affection
and arabesque
in retrospect
on a dialectical
contemporary set
forever and ever...

At Once Romantic & Commonsensical

" At Once Romantic
and Commonsensical "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

At once romantic
and commonsensical
remaining essentially
locked in sterile
delinquency
with troubling greetings
punctuated
by a dangling shard
of alarm
as part of the problem
of subplots
in an anonymous
peer review
Not to be confused
as a curtain raiser
fairing
only slightly better
than wishing
in vain
for a paper airplane
to fly
somewhere over
the rainbow
with puns
and wordplay
by showing off
anyway
that goes
without saying
getting
carried away
for the most
part
all for the
asking
by taking
a bubble
bath
Sure to emerge
visible
and palpable
with the feel
of gravel
as just one
more habit
on a carefully
constructed
path
gradually
revealing
a view
of a square
gathering
momentum
in a romantic
landscape
of volcanic
sand
and the hiss
of an aerosol
can...

Cartwheeling as Phosphorescent Stars

" Cartwheeling
as Phosphorescent Stars "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Cartwheeling
as phosphorescent stars
in rumors first heard
to heed the need
to sightsee and eavesdrop
as a starlit harlot
and starry-eyed artist
On a former loading dock
standing apart from the harsh
with Johnnie Walker
in acknowledgement
of a Grey Goose
far removed as a muse
super hard and deeply fearful
Leaning over black granite
carefully grandstanding
with excited chatter
as a flapping bat
being ravaged
at a newsstand
Under close surveillance
on a yoke-back chair
carved from a single
block of marble
as seen in a blog
like continuity
in a limited series
of perfect acquisitions
filling the gap
as a major absence
depicting importance
in water and chalk...

Clearly Over a Tidy Churn

" Clearly Over a Tidy Churn "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Clearly over a tidy churn
with terse drumming
and plenty to work with
as layers of artifice
and cross-hatched
accents to match
finding traction
in flickering contraptions
swelling with rain
rooted on center stage
On a woody peg, naked
in cross-section
with scented edges
silvery when fresh
dense and spire-like
attaining heights
widely triangular
pyramidal and lacy
with raised scars
bracketed and bent
backwards
blackened
with age
Borne in pairs
wingless
cone-bearing
silver haired
ovoid acorns
scaly cups
rough
pubescent shrub
rusty, stubby
lustrous southern
curled under...

Shaping Up as a Target

" Shaping Up as a Target "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Shaping up as a target
for mismatched partners
in a fatalistic broody place
with baby blues trained
on a fixed horizon line
of mysterioso silence
with bleachy-white teeth
framed as if waking
with a gun-slinging stranger
from the information age
of spellchecking
gestures and gaits
in updated Super 8
like the culprits of aging
laying waste
to the super-
accommodating
Flirting with allowing
a series of flower-powers
as interpretively superb
and dazzling, but risk averse
beginning in miniature
juxtaposed by lyrical gifts
surprisingly magical
with a tempestuous side
of defy fluidity freewheeling
as a supple balancing act
of feisty excitement
capitalizing on the extremely frightening by sidestepping stereotypes
like sweet pliable technique
becoming big and brawny...

Senescence of Self-Defense

" Senescence of Self-Defense "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

In a hard-hitting
senescence of self-defense
suspicious or more or less
as larger and flatter
cells in arterial plaque
becoming overly active
and churning out
patches of malignancy
like relationships between
aging and inflammation
fostering getting shorter
in self-styled highlights
probably drunken
and possibly violent
By outshining
an imposing
atmosphere of fear
by threading together
senses of dread
being fed
by a provision
of grueling shoots
and lethal tubers
inducing
wilted pistillates
musky heads
and necrotic stems
then-dropping reams
of fertile seeds
onto blackening fields
with a vernal inevitability
following dormancy
with a redeeming alchemy...

Something of a One-Note

" Something of a One-Note "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Something of a one-note Bellwort
dropping at the end of a forking stem
discarding the leafy portions
as yellow bells
dangling beneath slender
arching stems-berries red
Hearing ineffable echoes
soft and feathery
as past and present laments
in threadlike torment
mixed with myth
littered with prescriptives
of the apocalyptic
As a straight-up
impersonation
of a toppling stage
at the end
of an unsustainable
rainbow
for the unnamed
on opening day
plagued
by power plays
and becoming
upstaged
by a miming
narrator
with an amazingly
pliant spine
and a precise
choreography
of the eyes...

Becoming Funny & Weird & Sloppy

" Becoming Funny,
and Weird and Sloppy "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed in YouTube

Becoming funny and weird and sloppy
when thrown for a loop
by mishandled duties
in narrow green rooms
of the totally natural
emptied out
as paradigms
of unhappiness
like fried ants
in disparate
fairy tales
as fractured
characters
in mismatched
casts
With the rhetorical tic
of a vulgar kitsch
dismissed
with the fragility
of unscientific rigor
while leaping
over limits
unflinchingly
like a prestigious
mistress
and pre-eminent
critic
of pictorial brilliance
in multiple disciplines
of gambler, swindler
and alchemist
With spotty knowledge
prompted
by the topmost gossip
of an inexorable
prosecutor in two parts
as an unorthodox memoir
In spicy cuisine, " Sweetie "-
" Gosh Almighty! "
freely embracing
then running away
after a break up
with a jack-of-all-trades
then leaving the stage
along a fertile plain
of strap-shaped
stream beds
within the broad range
of late middle age
Assuming a deep groove
of allocution
dramatically patterned
in red and black
reduced to powder
when mixed
with the pungent flowers
of a musk mallow
And hiding out
in the otherwise
gaudy good times
as indecipherable
uninspired writings
like a riot
of inedible wild
loosestrife
When all is right
in story lines
like fireweed
in showy spikes
replete with sweet
buckeye...

Almost Upon Us

" Almost Upon Us "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Almost upon us
in a partners arms
all along
while peeling off
the not-so-sure
in a guided tour
of enormous glory
unperformed
before an audience
in counterpoint
whittled down
to a compelling
account
of calamitous
snorts of scorn
first and foremost
with deniability
of course
never coming across
as the mission falters
with impecunious support
in the forefront
Sustained by a rum-laced cake
practically in one's face taken way
too far like much of a flock
with little regard
for the precious metals
of a talisman
from everywhere else
endlessly summoning up
turbulent bravado
in moral documents
quickly pivoting
with the dismissiveness
of unlikely innocents
in microchips
Insular and prickly
top-to-bottom
as erect fronds
from stout rootstock
rich in starch
pounded into flour
as scaly nutgrass
scattered
and difficult
to gather
as cattails
and bracken
Like bureaucratic
black magic
loutish and tacky
with a cockney accent
as a geriatric alligator
peevish and snappy
with am enigmatic laugh
shielding against cancer
as a bizarre idiosyncratic charm
with a fiercely common big heart...

Propped Up on a Harpsichord

" Propped Up on a Harpsichord "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Propped up on a harpsichord
willfully transformed
by a trenchant voice
with a bit of tabloid force
pulling the whole score off course
in a series of wall pieces
hanging from a rectangular peg rack
as a penchant for the abstract
on a red-and-white banner
in the manner of a patchwork
twisting against black
in a vacant chapel
Narrow, jagged and masked
with a miasmic camphor
Like extra hours
for taxidermied animals
stacked one upon another
on their favorite basking log
as a fête gallante
in contemporary art
with greatly enlarged heads
as early nesters
Like legendary Hellbenders
facing hordes of predators
almost nothing with scores
to settle with anyone else
like a code of silence
on a slimed fishing line
As miners panning for gold
along a remote riverside
forming nuggets from dust
molded in cuttlefish bones
Steeped on local lore
along twin falls
tickled at the thought
of being carved
from pink marble
then being mocked
as facsimiles
of the flotsam
like rubber duckies
gone amok
on virtually
any subject
if not for nothing
as a font wonk
with interlocking
camaraderie...

Calling for a Humane

" Calling for a Humane "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Calling for a humane
giveaway
in a tough campaign
landing
on holiday tables
not bruised
or missing a leg
in a 90-minute
drive away
while getting
bills paid
and taking
up an entire page
that's not to say
looking at everyday
with just one aim
of shuffling
without complaint
while snaking
instead of aiming
straight
toward an embankment
Envisioning
a bull's eye target
in scarlet
like a polarizing
artist
without a partner
coming on fast
in a kneecapped
wonderland
as an ally
of the hapless
praised
for capturing
triumph
in any language
as a venerable
brand
Pulse quickening
muscular and earthy
tapering
to a winged stem
like a smooth
ground-cherry
ripening
with a deeply-
dented
base as heart-shaped
when used as capers
with a sweet potato taste
dried and pushed
through a strainer...

On a Vibraphone on Saturday Night

"On a Virbraphone on Saturday Night"

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

On a vibraphone on Saturday Night
played on the same spot
as collaborative art
for concerts
of the not-so-hard
as arias earmarked
as melancholic
when composed
as stand-alone
fading drones
changing in exposure
in overtures
played
over the long haul
as encores
of masterful joy
Usually green beneath
when freed
from the mud
by using your feet
in extreme need
low and creeping
with an acrid
biting quality
turning pink in spring
Unlike anything
which is to say
miscellaneous
as a stubby spadix
tapering
to a tight cluster
like an unpalatable
Jack-in-the-Box
do not eat raw
or boiled
on long stalks
with thick joints
as opposed
to a cautionary
dogbane
or common
nightshade
Or perhaps as
bastard toadflax
attached singly
pale underneath
crowned by sepals
small, green
and sweet
hairless
and quickly
branching
along sandy shores
toothless, or nearly so
with showy lobes
and deep groans
from lame jokes
becoming pigeon-holed
as a Texas toad
when threatened
burying itself
as a consequence
of specimen collecting
with a sharp edge
on a cranial crest
creating a depression
returning to a terrestrial
with a poorly-defined
black stripe..

At the Nexus

" At the Nexus "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed
on YouTube

At the nexus
of adoring
the gawping
of a goof-ball
hoop-skirted
performance
in plain sight
all along
creaking
floorboards
as test runs
come
stumbling
to an end
Envied
and imitated
as the critically
acclaimed
like throwaways
of the strangely
unsustainable
Absorbed
into the mainstream
by channeling
lipstick and cockiness
implicitly followed
by the love of artistry
with psycho-melodic sass
Hugging tightly
with a mellifluous
yelp in falsetto
headlong
behind closed doors
and coming across
as nothing short
In all accordings
graciously scene
above the waste
with enablement
to perform
the sacred
as free-spirited
improvisation
in the upper ranges...

Trading Blame

" Trading Blame "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Trading blame
and bracing
for covert saviors
speciously revered
as ungodly
ruling bodies
not pretty
but still unbeaten
On the big-name
A-list after
a brazen raid
on and off stage
without the restraints
of a plaything
While whizzing
at high speed
during a life-
long trip at sea
with the familiar
sitcomish shtick
of nibbling chips
as a cartoonish
patrician
in response
to a mêlange
of mixed feelings
from shredded egos
and swapped barbs
Rambling on
while name dropping
like blarney for a sexpot
with skeletal parts
under binoculars
irregardless
Commandingly in charge
and hence harmless
after cashing a last heart
discarding a diamond
from the dummy
running clubs
with a high trump
and declared ruffs
as luxury-loving
while under discussion
Finding a comfort in the early
incontrovertible inertness
of someone else's words
in a close-mouthed world
Plotting to build
after bringing
down the house
without boundries
like shooting stars
re-enacted as blasts
with little chance
of ravaging impact
when slammed
into taking action
as an unprecedented
show of power
in a touchdown
Being coddled
above and beyond
with cultural prominence
like landmarks
as said parts of artistry
venturing onto an over-
hanging branch
with an intimate scale
and carefree abandon...

Stylistically Divergent

" Stylistically Divergent "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Stylistically divergent
urban and rural
either yellowish
or purplish
tending to fix
the bitter
in just over
a minute
with wild ginger
Above ground
with solitary
flowers of brown
stout, wooly stalks
bared in pairs
Bundled up
in popular culture
trimmed in fur
opposed to open
roads with hips
held on the bush
through winter
in bristly thickets
covered with sticky
reddish hairs
on sandy pastures
Coarse species
forming dense clumps
of conspicuously
wrinkled leaves
large deep rose
to white
in survival
along dry
open roadsides
Long arching
grey-green
stout and downy
with unopened
flowers lacking
milky sap upland...

A Longtime Confidant

" A Longtime Confidant "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

A longtime confidant
of probably not
following
the normal standards
or demographics
as blonde and bubbly
even when saying
dark things
triumphantly
by setting up
punchlines like, "Um"
Then goosing the crowd
by shouting out, "Get Out!"
after a catty sigh
like a lifetime
undying booking
on, "Tonight"
Blissfully like a kind
of salad made famous
by Julia Child
while getting blubbery
from Monopoly money
As anonymous artisans
wearing conical
likenesses carved
from bony objects
across a predatory
marital bed stretching
across a frenzied center
of cryogenic stealth
into a naysaying mindset
As a common result
early in its run
sometimes funny
sometimes suffering
coming to life at dusk
with an audible stillness
as a lack of innocence
in a payola figure
Almost in its original form
seen by many many more
as a small comfort
excerpted from a longer version
with a close-up showing
a handful of loans
nailed in only two takes
in late middle age
Especially legendary
like a stupefying expression
spoken with a biting gesture
like a biting bonehead resembling
a walrus-tusked chessman
in a Medieval collection
with no contest
Revelling in unfamiliar dimensions
with toothpicks and bits of string
in an exhibition
scrapped as a catalog
too daunting to print
given the obvious
as impossible...

In Some Essential Way

" In Some Essential Way "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

In some essential way
endangered
and underplayed
running off stage
posturing
with self-conscious
intolerance
and wobbly sabotage
in a dodgy deal
Overstuffed and underedited
as a hardly fitting ending
intermittently wasted
and content to hang
with a cavy mate
forlornly drained
and wiped out painfully
In a low-wattage drama
masked with algae
as flattened captives
serrated toward the back
like a familiar, " snapper "
in a flash-shaped cavity
Within a burgeoning ethos
of erotic freedom
burrowing with front feet
around the margins of ponds
bound with goldenrod
fringed prominently
with a pink calyx
sweetened to taste...

Acute and Ardent

" Acute and Ardent "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Acute and ardent
supposed
to have shown
a new-
fangled
shrewdness
becoming
pretty sure
of grandeur
in an ordinary
world
by unfurling
under a curl
and turning
furiously
to a judge
and jury
for rulings
on innocence
or guilt
As over-lapping
granular scales
with dark
triangular patches
some black,
some blue
like cross bands
in a glaring
arid and semi-
arid land
with distinctly
creviced females
and blandly
barred males
Clearly marked
as clutches
in clump grass
in sunny woodlands
and sandy flats
shy and wary
with splotches
and spots
between
femoral pores
found foraging
in the morning
eyes paling
in the damp...

Northern Temperate Zones

" Northern Temperate Zones "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Northern temperate zones
like sirens and moles
with distinct body regions
capped with packets of sperm
displayed in a wide range
of jellylike eggs
lost during transformation
yelling when captured
and squirming vigorously
when handled
Nestling in winter
waiting for spring
in sheltered cavities
emitting clicks
after wrestling
un opportunistic litter
becoming threatened
by a red underbelly
and swelling vents
In defense December
through May cave dwelling
lined with fleshy projections
on stream beds of detritus
poorly known as predacious
to incubating eggs
tipped with black horny layers
Swept into the water by heavy rains
bypassing the tadpole stage
of yellowish flecks
over a clear head and neck
along with a conspicuous
tympanum of warm, moist skin
hatching directly into tail-wagging
species in swiftly flowing streams
Erupting like bubbles in tar pits
of hardship with foul-mouthed grit
given heady physicality
while dilating the entire length...

An Heir Apparent

" An Heir Apparent "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

An heir apparent
abundant
in open scrub oak
easily burrowing
prominently knobby
with dark spotting
and conspicuous
cranial crests
Filling in the picture
by setting aside differences
of messy textures
and confused senses
then trilling musically
breeding in the temporary pool
of a drenching monsoon
In the first two movements
principle and subsidiary
as the case with a penchant
for a frenzied tenth degree
when peppered with flecks
snout-to-vent
Opened and closed
as top-grossing
tightly focused replays
As mostly late
compilations
of lighter-spirited days
Expressing joyful abandon
by basking on stumps
or lower reaches
of tree trunks
after tunneling
under prickly brush
with a husky skink...

Featuring the Accomplished

" Featuring the Accomplished "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Featuring the accomplished
as a recent self-release
while spinning with tradition
as well as the unexpected
twists and turns
of dramaturgical surgery
with the painstaking detail
of a noir gangster in drag
as a felon without question
Obsessively pressing
the fast-forward button
like a vibrating device
for tricking the mind
in front of each eye
stymying dilation
plus befuddling
the tongue
When tethered together
with momentum
while hanging our heads
as a final sign
of an opening line
of the likewise
not far behind
Like the equivalent
of a sinister familiar
forced to draw
a single straw
and coming
up short...

A Repurposed Psych-Pop Hit

" A Repurposed Psych-Pop Hit "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

A repurposed psych-pop hit
with boho chic prowess
stuffed with marquee pop
Scottish post-rockers
pacing the stage
under stark spots
and Potter nods
Continuing to eschew
linear pop
as an angular throwback
to giddy chic densely howling
throughout prog-pop
in small ensembles of post-bop
As burnt-caramel for alto-sax
like idiosyncratic fearless sopranos
Like piano for four-hands
video-enhanced
and selectively adapted
as a caplet of neat standards
Under the auspices
of a rotating set
for a vintage quartet
performing torturous
songs as encores
Along side overlords
of overdue support
as taste-making
sharp guitars
complete with finger pics
for double strings
plucked with exemplary urgency
as modern post-pop Bach...

Notably Strong Last Week

" Notably Strong Last Week "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Notably strong last week
after making gains
with unworldly sensations
and rakish perturbations
Playing flugelhorn
in a rippling waltz
poignantly pinpointing
teary pipe dreams in low keys
while wooing goose-bump
producing corkscrewing
Hurtling two stories
after falling backward
into sodden double entendres
packed with mea culpas
and manic hand-wringing
after lapping gin from a dog's dish
and prancing madly
at random or by accident...

If This Cliche is Accurate

" If This Cliché is Accurate "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

If this cliché is accurate
as the most interesting character
with similarities between now and then
revisited by previously unique ideas
becoming humdrum
when borrowed from others
as burdensome as phantom nones
Featured as new releases
piece by piece
with a ban on neither
harmonic catharsis
nor monophonic confessions
like retreaded laments
At least read as a script
rewritten like a premiere
for a serious super hero
top grossing anonymously
as Shakespeare turned zombie...

Amid So Many

" Amid So Many "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Amid so many
lucky breaks
explained away
as parting waves
of heartache
like a mild
narcotic
with a likeness
to headlines
over the rest
of our lives
Staying up late
as painfully
long days
over the decades
adjacent
to diluted moods
of refusal
like a hula
Cradled with string
while balancing
alternatives
to pandering
as patchy
pageantry
like copy cats
of the drab
With a flourish
amid the rather
real-life gag
of untapped
cat's cradles
being replaced
by flirtation
cast haplessly
backward
and fizzling out
as juxtaposed
solos
fated only
to pose
at the opening
salvo...

All Got Together

" All Got Together "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

All got together
as an over-
amplification
of familial
fragments
in sturm
and drang
As dis-
tinctive
talents
featuring
alien casts
in versions
of glass
seen
as mirrors
of the mer-
curial
let alone
as an
opening
like
a star
pitcher
with
an honest
moniker
hardly begun
Heavily
salinized
at high speed
while flying
upside
down
and
backwards
with
an un-
certain laugh
in a slam-
bang tank
filled
with a fist-
ful of skin
and a vial
of un-
identifiable
pills
Starting
circling
while
reading
some-
thing
but coming
up bloody
while tucked
away
in amongst
a jumpy
pulse
still docked
with
an itchy
trigger finger
Never re-
leased
after
lingering
with hit
or miss
as wist-
ful
listenings
like preludes
to oral
histories
in ancillary
channels
pretty hap-
pily
Successes
represented
as vocal
chemistry
with
a lettered
gentleman
from strains
of the al-
most famous
idealized
like blinders
In a fierce
argument
outliving
its use-
fulness
as dead
wrong
in
an un-
inter-
active
travel
nar-
rative
con-
stantly
on tap
talking
back...

Not Quite Farcical

" Not Quite Farcical "

by Suzán Jiván

Not quite farcical
offering yet another gloss
over another salsa
and merengue cohort
as an impromptu put off
of cast calls
at the complete annoyance
of purportedly loyal audiences
Not quite pulling off the tenacity
of a sometime thriller
imbued with youth
in a biomusical
like a decisive timeline
for flinty survivors
with strong song styles
in working order
as passions still
underwritten
within an original script
left uninvested since
a wizard-seeking gimmicky
deliberance with a tatted
wisecracking masked man
as the answer to lonely wales
with a backstabbing
riot of spangles
And the beat goes on
as uninterrupted thumps
of disruptive percussion
finding the courage
to drum up life's laments
summed up when punch drunk...

Must Be Done

" Must Be Done "

by Suzán Jiván

Must be done
much as a thrashing man
like an overbearing female
fueling the jukebox
of an unsound heart
like hit-packed show stopper
retooled with uprooted boomers
Trying really really hard
in belle canto stardom
as innocuous, ungodly
and largely charm free
buried underneath twittering glee
Pioneering rivals in the twilight
like a diva-sized ego that never dies
after a haunting life
hiding out otherwise inside
an indecipherable night
Fallen under the spell
of a hooch-swilling bawdy talker
mixing sordid songs with little more
than overwrought
rotating casts of amassed
farcical criminal fragility
clinched with hinderously
rigid narcissism...

Off-Putting Starkness

" Off-Putting Starkness "

by Suzán Jiván

Off-putting starkness
of chattering objects
in high contrast
like giant tree slices
of self-conscious modesty
within earshot of a forest
Few and far in-between
the gesture and geometry
of the long-lost often overlooked
as either industrious or lucky
like flingers of zingy lines
outshined by a gaudy good time
In a long song and dance
all about a cappella as full potential
when collectively stepped
above all the rest with the exception
of a wrenchingly placid set
After a crash landing with a con man
in a failing cast opening last
with spent passion and avarice...

There Is No Next

" There Is No Next "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

There is no next
in undreamt attempts
to remember
after mulling over
being in the know
through voice overs
cobbled together
as odds and ends
conjuring clogged
hallways of tomorrows
In a dented wall
crumpled on the floor
in foot-long flute songs
in short, longstanding
as manuscripts
from the past
In a rant of gasping
thin air in full-scale
blaring impairment
of future heirs
In formidable stills
of maudlin mundanity
from the old days
as blinking sweeps
on a radar screen
of incoming blips
in nano minutes...

Lauded by Critics

" Lauded by Critics "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Lauded by critics
with a flicker
for anyone interested
in miniature
differences in wit
as a state of weariness
without a trace of vagueness
between action and restraint
Shockingly clinical
blighted by road signs
funneling light
toward matinees idols
in full light
with spikes of sapphire
scrutinized
by actual life
on multiple sites
Guided by bona fides
from earlier times
like strivings
in little bits
brimming
with papier-mâché
figures
as blissful walk-ins
Imagining similar skits
intermittently
mounting multichannel
legacies
unflinching with cerulean
skin above suspicion
Like funkier digital quips
slightly off-kilter
when joining the ticket
with dissenting opinions
appearing as free-spirited mimics
invariably with antipathy
and added instability
Executed in gridded order
all for a cause all according
to inordinate laws
dipped in mortar with a blurry aura
Painted toylike
commensurate with memory
and too little evidence
while pondered with stark
closely bobbed locks of harshness...

A Seemingly Endless Run

" A Seemingly Endless Run "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

A seemingly endless run
accessorized by a turret
of unsubtleties from graffiti
to junk sculptures
of many subjects
in big numbers
As a surveyish
introduction
like a digital
wunderkind
with an artifice
of many riffs
intertwined
with the divergent
free-style of desire
as snippets
of possibilities
in indigo
The most straight-
forward clips
of piano
with devotional
wrists and elbows
bending perilously
between printed
sheets in vintage
depictions
of cataclysms
with certain tactility
Both weepy
and clear-eyed
with a sly
alertness
to the divine
by acquired
state of mind
before your
very eyes
Anguished cries
of, " venal! ",
" ugly! "
and " weird! "
as satiric
cartoonish
boobies
accompanied
by looming
brutes
rummaging
through
the stupefying
refuse
of unctuous
love
run asunder...

Skin Art, Color Bomb

" Skin Art, Color Bomb "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube
as, " Skin Art, Color Bomb "

Skin art, color bomb
with tatwax aftercare
to raise awareness
by wearing contacts
as an upscale black male
in flashbacks
of bedazzlement
Flipping out
as swoon-worthy
tried and true
fuzzbox funk
winding up
as tweeted
niceties
pillaging
for freebies
Like a pick
pocketed
wallet
beneath
the big top
in a block-
buster rostrum
hailing hallowed marks
while slogging
through gridlock
in a parking lot
of hot prospects
Atop a bluff
in an uncultivated way
dressed in black
and carrying
a walkie-talkie
without railings
as a calming, not flashy
pretty spectacular
Understood exactly
effortlessly carrying
a gaggle of laughs
way back
as a fitness fanatic
like the who, what
when & why
of backstabbing
in a high-tech class
of anti-establishment...

With a Haunting Litheness

" With a Haunting Litheness "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

With a haunting litheness
in a once-in-a-lifetime sound bite
recreated nightly around midnight
among the emptied-out, " Now! "
Prefixed with, " morphosis "
not liquid or gaseous
like a paradigm of happiness
as yellow as a banana
with the moral standards of a .org
And an affirmative vote spoken
with an outstretched finger
of perjury and piracy
while eating humble pie
Like throwing a bone
while under the weather
of yesterday
with a palindromic name
Catalyzed as a reaction
to a component
of hemoglobin
by emitting
a slightly
bluish light
like a quiet,
" Oom-pah-pah " ...

Exploring Decay

" Exploring Decay "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

Exploring decay
in a transparent tank
filled with rank
remains requiring
repeated viewings
of reclining nudes
as seen in minute
smears of dis-
appearing ink
Leaving white lines
of monotypes
created for the entire
multiplication table
as an exaggeration
filed away
with a suicidal bride
in a silent afterlife
As the unprintable title
of fogged-over eyes
begrudgingly
ending up in a prison-
like jumbled mind
with mood lighting
Dancing awkwardly
away from the limelight
seemingly mesmerized
by the finality of accuracy
snuggling in mink
intent on retarding it
In fits and starts
with a shot in the arm
of the obvious
Suspended logic
holding on with a nod
to the probable
as a cultivated star
of the foreign
with alarm
Like a guest artist
never wanting
the hardly
unwelcoming
milking of publicity
like a potbellied pig
Gone unnoticed
after bringing
down the house
before a crowd
in an intimate
single ring
of the familiar
within inches...

In Any Row or Column

" In Any Row or Column "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

In any row or column
as far as anyone could tell
participatory and otherwise
seeming to fit the criteria
as the opposition
backing the pact
as less plastic
and more
transparent
Freestanding
creating heat
and glare
while calling
for fresh air
Sitting at desks
after winning
a measure
from a major
rupture
hoisted aloft
frozen before
a rapt audience
Sinking
into a painting
throughout the day
while admiring
incised lines
appearing
and disappearing
nearby
without a deadline
In a million years
earless
in a white bobbed
wig
with a tangle
of wires
not far behind
replying
to queries
of language speakers
in flightless flocks
above a humped ox
In a wound up
hubbub that hums
as cousins
of whistling ones
but remembering
none...

They're Supposed to, but

" They're Supposed to, but "

by Suzán Jiván

They're supposed to, but
so seldom do
as strangely moving
with amazingly fake wings
obviously involved
in some kind of wizardry
in a spruce tree
rotating 180 degrees
while heaving and swaying
at the first stage
of experimental play
Ranging from the occasional
of note today
holding babies atop tables
like latter-day annunciations
as an oddly modern
paradox of found objects
Both brilliant and predictable
rich and inquisitive
mixing and matching
abstractions exactly
as more animal than plant
with a sense of abandon...

The Idea Escalated

" The Idea Escalated "

by Suzán Jiván

Performed on YouTube

The idea escalated
as mannequins of men
stood at the ready
in rows of helmets
with a hefty preface
to a permanent perch
of unabashedly
unflattering wide angles
of taxidermied animals
In social interactions
turning out
as unsatisfactory
like tongue-in-cheek
under close scrutiny
as wax effigies
smiling blissfully
Well-known
ambivalence
as if in a stint
with perpetual
helter-skelter
in oversized
black trash bags
eager to please
like a golden
retriever
Shrunken
into a raft-
sized pallet
taken to task
as obviously
opulent
with gold-
flecked
prominence
Identifying
the "OMG"
of orthodoxy
known
intimately
as emerald green
gradually
smoldering
all the livelong day
on a bulky frame
With quickness
and little finesse
if nothing else
as something
extra uninvested
in ourselves...