A poem by my dad's old law school buddy. The irony seems appropriate for some reason. Perhaps because for some, it's not ironic at all:
Alien Nation
By John Hayes
fags and fuckups
the streets are filled
with dark devils mumbling some naughty shit
and whores in short skirts
god, goddamn, where is god anymore
(I’m sure he’s really pissed at all of this)
what happened to good white Americans
who respected the law and flag
and who didn’t talk loud or be violent,
who talked about stocks and lawns (well manicured)
these fags and fuckups should be put in stocks, hah!
Note: I was so tired when posting this last night that I forgot to mention that this poem was published in Fin De Siecle, the first of a series of publications that my dad and a couple of friends put together at UCLA law school when I was just a little kid. My dad tells the bio of that publication here and more of his very own poetry (and some by my mom and brother too!) can be read here.
Posted by Maria at January 13, 2005 12:31 AM | TrackBackMaria,
I see you just posted this about a half hour ago. Just checked in to see how you were doing. Reading Furry Chiclets, huh? Always good for a rejuvenating splash of reality a la subjectivo.
Got a cool card from Angela and Rachael today. Rachael has a big skull tattooed on her right shoulder. Angela's hair's all red. Fags and fuckups! Hah!
:) Love,
Daddyo
Daddy, I went straight to bed after I posted this so I didn't get your comment until this morning. I am going to call you today. Been planning on it, but I've gotten home late the last couple nights.
I love reading back on all that old poetry. Looking back on Furry Chiclets now I see how priceless it is.
I got a card from Angela too! She said she may be stopping through NY soon, so I might actually get to see her for the first time in about six years. Talk to you soon!
Love,
M.
I like the poem!
And hi to Maria's dad.
The Creeping In is great! i need to read all of them now. thanks Charles, for posting the link!
Posted by: P at January 13, 2005 11:13 AM'No ordinary lawyer.'
I guess the hell not.
Thanks for the link to the main site. I spent over an hour grazing the poetry--haven't gotten to the rest yet.
Interesting. Not Dylan Thomas by miles but nevertheless--interesting. Some of it's quite beautiful.
Mr Carreon wasn't by any chance one of those good-for-nothing, deadbeat, hippie Buddhist lawyers who started out doing legal aid and shit, was he? If so, give him a kiss for me and tell him some of us still remember--and some others of us would be dead or in jail if it hadn't been for people like him.
Poetry-writing lawyers. GADZOOKS. Never in my wildest imagination. Just when you think you've seen everything, it turns out that lawyers write poetry--not bad poetry, either. Live and learn.
Posted by: Mick at January 13, 2005 10:18 PMHahaa. That's good Mick.
Mr Carreon wasn't by any chance one of those good-for-nothing, deadbeat, hippie Buddhist lawyers who started out doing legal aid and shit, was he?
He was. He actually started out the way a lot of lawyers in L.A. start out, coming out of UCLA, getting hired at a big L.A. firm as an associate and going ahead and enduring all that that entails. He did a lot of personal injury. A lot of interesting cases as I remember. I don't have to go into it. After ten years of living in L.A. and my dad (and mom) absolutely slaving away for big, fancy firms, we finally moved back to Oregon. He was a Jackson County prosecutor for a couple years, then he worked in a private practice for awhile before becoming a federal public defender, a bit of a stretch from prosecutor, huh? Defending federal drug cases and bank robberies and stuff. At the same time he did that he started a private practice. And yes, he gives an immense amount of free time to others. Always has. He's extremely generous with his time and one of the most genuine, caring human beings I've ever known in his field. He's great at writing poetry, stories. He played the flute a lot when I was younger. Listened to a lot of really great music. He also happens to be an extraordinarily brilliant lawyer. I have nothing but the utmost respect for my dad. (and I'm not just saying that because he reads my blog sometimes.) He's the coolest.
Actually, I think you might be surprised, Mick, to find out that there are a lot of really cool people out there who went to lawschool and actually managed to STAY really cool people, and hopefully, for the sake of the profession, the cool people don't disappear anytime in the future! ;o)
I'll drink to kickass lawyers. Though they're few and far between...!
Posted by: Maria at January 14, 2005 12:30 AM*The Creeping In is great!*
Yes, isn't that by Corrine de Winter? I really loved doing Furry Chiclets, and learned a huge lot about poetry by reading probably ten thousand poems, many not very good at all, many good in some ways and bad in others, some few awfully bad but with occasional gemlike glistenings, and many reams of just total toilet paper. I concluded that if a poem had life, then I wanted to have it. So I started proposing revisions and asking for approval to make the changes. People always agreed with my changes. I did a few complete makovers, but mostly just little tweaks. Many poems are improved by trimming a little. Don't get me wrong, however -- the majority of Furry Chiclets poems are just as the authors wrote them, and very well they are written. That is because they were the gems, the buds, the colitas pulled from the shwag, as it were. Hippie lawyers? Never heard of 'em!
Cheers,
Chas
*I got a card from Angela too! She said she may be stopping through NY soon, so I might actually get to see her*
She's really amazing. I get a real kick out of her staying in touch. When she comes to town, have a drink for me!
:) Daddyo
Posted by: Charles Carreon at January 14, 2005 02:48 AM