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...