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Vitamins and Minerals--The Whole Thing
by David GarnerVITAMINS AND MINERALS
1. The Rooms Look Bad
2. The Man, So Stuck
3. He Wants to Move
4. He Takes a Nap
5. He Falls Away
6. He Sleeps Too Much
7. He Needs to Breathe
8. He Finds the Book
9. Just for Example
10. And So He Does
11. Just Follow Me
12. He Grabs Some Cake
13. It Comes to This
14. The Soul Seems Lost
15. Kick Ass
1.
The rooms look bad. The rooms look bad.
The two joint rooms look gritty,
Filthy, ugly, shack and shambles. Messy, dusty, not too pretty.
The rooms look bad. The rooms look bad.
Both too long and both too narrow.
Composed of bone and not much marrow.
The double bed seems way too wide.
Against the door, they both collide.
The paint looks sloppy on the walls.
How it streaks and how it falls.
On the molding, on the door.
On the ceiling, on the floor.
The former tenant, a tortured drunk,
His color choices really stunk.
Hunter green just seems so wrong,
Wrong notes for a wrong song.
And the floor so nasty, God, the floor.
Looks beat-up like a beat-up whore.
Track marks here and absent veins,
Weathered and a thousand stains,
Scratched and bruised and badly cut.
The hard wood floors, in a hard wood rut.
Lost and Found lives in these cracks.
A paper clip and Apple Jacks,
Price tag from the ankle socks,
Litter from the kitten box,
A penny lodged, a nickel stuck.
Doritos and some What-the-?
The rooms look bad. The rooms look bad.
2.
The man, so stuck. The man, so stuck.
The cornered man in a cornered cage.
Quiet, in a quiet rage.
The man, so stuck. The man, so stuck.
All his dreaming in recession.
Chemical, chemicals of depression.
Both his feet, tensed and curled,
A panicked planet and a whacked out world,
Rub together, never still.
Never peaceful, ever-ill.
His lower back curves too far in,
Broken marble and some rusted tin.
Anxious and he feels as if
When the neck gets sore and the back goes stiff,
The physical-and-spiritual, they clash in a rage.
He feels as if hes twice his age.
Fifty, sixty, maybe more.
Maybe eighty, eighty-four.
Wrinkly, crinkly, staircase, old.
Hungry, tearful, sleepy, cold.
The man, so stuck. The man, so stuck.
3.
He wants to move. He wants to move.
Both his body and from his apartment.
He sets his mind up, makes a date for exercise and embarkment.
He wants to move. He wants to move.
A good idea, a plan, a goal.
Exercise his body, exercise his mind, exercise his soul.
Every day of a six-day week.
Take one off the reach his peak.
Wake up first and work the spirit.
Meditate and adhere it.
Incense, candlelight, clarity and grace.
Elements of style for an open simple space.
To exercise the mind a bit:
A crossword puzzle to keep it fit.
Stimulate the neurons with a headache on the crown.
Work it til his brain hurts or he gets 11-Down.
Break another habit of the screwed-up albatross.
Figure out the answer to 45-Across.
Do a little swimming, stretch his muscles, make them trim.
Run along the river; workout at the gym.
Make a little statement, pack a punch, then take a bow.
Turn his life upside down. But maybe not right now.
He wants to move. He wants to move.
4.
So
He takes a nap. He takes a nap.
When all else fails, he just lies down.
To find the pitch, he turns off the switch and the synthesasia of the whole damn town.
He takes a nap. He takes a nap.
He lies there in the darkness, finds it cold and most inviting.
He loves a place thats dimly lit or might just have bad lighting.
He finds comfort in the silhouettes, the shadows, and the shade.
If the edge of night just might exist, then take him to its blade.
For the sharpness of the evening and the darkness that it brings
Takes away the aftertaste, the after-itch, the afterstings,
Curls him in a little ball, lying on his side.
Haven til the morning comes, twilight as his guide.
Thinks about the daylight and the rising of the sun
Can make him overheated, overtired, overdone.
He believes in destiny and the things that will go wrong.
So the shaking starts its shaking and the panic comes along.
And his racing heart begins his racing.
And his bracing thoughts begin their bracing.
And the two of them together form the strangest thing combined.
The mind feeds off the panic and the panic feeds the mind.
And they loop around together, give and take and take and give.
And they live the panic over and the panic just relives.
And it seems to last forever as the craze begins on high
From the hyperventilation to a slow and steady sigh.
But the slow and steady sigh really takes her sweet old time.
And just begins to settle down when he thinks hes bout to die.
So
He takes a nap. He takes a nap.
5.
He falls away. He falls away.
Into secluded sleep.
Long and hard and strange and deep.
He falls away. He falls away.
From his family. From his friends.
He searches comfort in the odds and ends.
Like impulsive shopping.
Or compulsive popping
Of junk food, fat, and liquor.
And name brand drugs that confuse his body but brings the high on quicker.
In his sleep, he walks ten feet to the kitchen fridge and freeze,
The cabinets of his most desires and the pantry of his needs.
He craves the starches most of all.
The more the sugar, the more the fall.
The high glycemic wave he rides.
Oh, what progress. Such big strides.
White sugar, white flour,
Lovers of his midnight hour,
Feeds the fire, and there he fuels
The workmanship of caloric tools.
He pounds his mouth with pounds of cake
As he gets the blender read for a peanut butter shake.
From dusk to dawn, he lives his dream
And fill his mouth with the aerosol cream.
He cocks his head as he tilts the can.
Just a little bonus in his late-night feeding plan.
Cccchshshshshshshshshshshs!
Cccchshshshshshshshshshshs!
Cccchshshshshshshshshshshs!
Cccchshshshshshshshshshshs!
Any more hed have a sugar stroke.
So he grabs himself a Diet Coke as
He falls away. He falls away.
6.
He sleeps too much. He sleeps too much.
He never gets out of bed.
He stays inside the perimeters of his pillow and his head.
He sleeps too much. He sleeps too much.
Or else he just lies there.
Distant from a scented candle, far from clean fresh air.
Gravity has sucked him down and thrown him to the couch,
Stuck him in the vacuum of the black hole magnet and the nightmare of the nothing pouch,
Gave him television as a substitute for love,
The body of the infomercial and the lust he dreams most of.
Throw him in the jungle with the daytime ghosts,
Swinging on the vines with the game show hosts.
Someone like a stranger wins a trip and he will cry.
Call his name to Come on down! and play The Price is High.
Or drown his visions out in full with one big maddening dash.
Prey on his compulsions with the 1-900-TRASH.
Staring at the picture in a loopy lazy haze,
He lies there in a stupor in a man-made maze,
Cutting off his impulse as he numbs his every need,
He forfeits up the reflex just to blink and just to breathe.
His Lazy Eyes and Lazy Lungs, unexercised and dry.
Even in his own subconscious, he cuts the oxygen supply.
He sleeps too much. He sleeps too much.
7.
He needs to breathe. He needs to breathe.
Open up his lungs. Open up his veins.
Passage to his throat and heart, to and from his brains.
He needs to breathe. He needs to breathe.
And concentrate on doing so.
Allow the function and the beauty to take its course and flow.
He needs to be more in tune with how his body works.
Pay attention to the kinks and all the little quirks.
He begins to breathe long and deep with no awareness,
More so from necessity, because of actions that were careless.
His body just demands it.
Each organ system now commands it.
Overfed, but undernourished.
Big and fat, and overflourished.
He needs to think a little less.
No need to constantly obsess.
For when he thinks, he thinks too much.
And in his head, he loses touch.
He finds fiendish frenzy right behind his fiendish face.
In the depths, or shallowness, of his cerebral space.
HIS SOUL:
I dont mean to sound so general. But you need to take this mineral.
Could he have heard what he just heard?
That voice, that sound, that string of words?
This voice was not his mind, he thinks, for he was thinking something else.
But this voice, he knows, must be a part, somewhere, of himself.
Very clear, but without a volume or external sound.
What part of him has he discovered? What find has he just found?
HIS SOUL:
With every breath you take, my friend, you generate free radicals.
And disease should surely find a home if you continue these sabbaticals.
And though you think you must be tired and need a lot of rest,
The reason seems to me, my friend, that you ignore the part of you thats most alive and best.
And to muster up your energy, your strength, and confidence,
I give you now the craving, POOF!, for antioxidants!
THE MAN:
A craving? Thats a craving? I want cake and pie!
HIS SOUL:
No, you want antioxidants unless you want to die!
Remember once you bought that book HOW TO FEEL BIONIC?
THE MAN:
Dont remind me. That was painful.
HIS SOUL:
Painful?
THE MAN:
Yes! I got it at that place where I got my first colonic!
He needs to breathe. He needs to breathe.
8.
But
He finds the book. He finds the book.
The memories flood back
Of how it felt to irrigate and have a tube go up his crack.
He finds the book. He finds the book.
On supplements and herbs.
And vitamins that promise him healthy new adverbs.
Like more alive and energized.
Healthfully and fertilized.
Chapter 3, page 62:
WHAT ANTIOXIDANTS CAN DO FOR YOU
THE MAN:
This book is crap! It makes no sense! I dont know why I got it!
HIS SOUL:
That books not crap. Its what you need and that is why you bought it.
It gives advice thats really good, both practical and medical.
You should read that part you skipped right here on phytochemicals.
On co-enzymes and carotenoids.
The benefits of flavonoids.
They support a healthy system and repair your damaged cells.
And help maintain the healthy ones to keep them good and well.
Provided you with the oxygen to give you perfect blood.
Because when you bleed, you want to bleed, not overflow or flood.
Because the tissue has been punctured or possibly provoked,
Cut with scissors or a scalpel, a knife, or maybe poked.
The blood will come to rescue the surface of your skin.
And perform its magic and its purpose from within.
He finds the book. He finds the book.
9.
HIS SOUL:
Just for example. Just for example.
Let us consider salt.
Salt has got a bum wrap lately and labeled mostly as a fault.
Just for example. Just for example.
People seem to like the taste, but not the side effects.
But have you ever heard that salt has caused anyone defects?
Now I know that you should watch your salt if your blood pressure is high.
But you also need some sodium if and when its time to sweat or maybe time to cry.
Without the salt, you may not cry
And keep that pain locked up and dry.
It may just sound a little strange
But salt, it seems, produces change.
It provides release and reduces stress.
And I guess it cuts the guess out of the guesswork, I would guess.
For if youve noticed through the years
When you cry and cry a lot, dont you always marvel at the taste of salty tears?
For I believe that tears main function is a bit abstract.
It comes to you to rescue you, to interrupt you, or distract.
To make you pause and notice it.
Forget the source of pain a bit.
To reassure that pain is gritty, but you are most alive.
For without that salt, you would digress and I bet youd never thrive.
And as you, yes, should watch your salt, you shouldnt cut it out.
A salt-free diet, you might not cry, but I guarantee youd pout.
So I think that you should go and try it.
And add some salt, bring out the salt, to supplement your diet.
Just for example. Just for example.
10.
And so he does. And so he does.
And salt he most embraces.
For salt can aid in epic things like muscle function, repairing nerves, and homeostasis.
And so he does. And so he does.
And salt can also be the one
To prevent a stroke out in the sun.
To provide him, if you will, a sheet
That screens him from the blazing heat.
For if the sun be idolized,
He might as well get iodized
And have some salt right by his side
To get his daily does of his daily iodide.
Table salt can be enjoyed.
A tablespoon for his thyroid
Boosts it up, metabolism.
This could start fantabulism.
But maybe not so much, too much.
Every little such and such
He adds it on to all his lists,
The condiment of condiments!
When he goes shopping for anything
Hell either buy or either bring
Table salt or salt from sea.
He searches salt for everything.
HIS SOUL:
Now, youve really overdone it!
If excess is a game, youve won it.
Hands be down, you are the best
In the find-some-salty, something-salty, Im-craving-something-salty quest.
I said to add it to your diet,
But you dont add, you multiply it!
And so he does. And so he does.
11.
HIS SOUL:
Just follow me. Just follow me.
Just stick here by my side.
And promise me that you wont lead, yet rather Im the guide.
Just follow me. Just follow me.
I know now I must tell you doses
Or else youll end with who-knows-what-osis.
So let us see and let it be
Something very simple like the Vitamin C.
Listen now to my instructions and youll be much safer.
You can take it in a tablet or a lozenge or a wafer.
In a powder, in a syrup, in a capsule, in a pill.
Yet do not store it near your oven or on your window sill.
500 milligrams is perfect. A little more? Thats great.
Rose hip added to its content help assimilate.
It repairs your vessels and the structure of you bones.
But too much of it can coagulate and give you kidney stones.
A lack of it can give you scurvy,
Makes your insides topsy-turvy.
But also it can help you whistle, sing a song, or hum.
Provide you with a healthy throat, a healthy voice, and gums.
Just follow me. Just follow me.
12.
But
He grabs some cake. He grabs some cake.
THE MAN:
Now this is what Id rather eat.
It may not have your vitamins, but to me, this is complete!
He grabs some cakes. He grabs some cake.
THE MAN:
This to me is more enticing!
I get a rush from all this icing!
Who says I shouldnt or I should?
This is natural and this is good!
THE SOUL:
Of course, its natural, but Death is too.
Id be more cautious if I were you
To let Nature take Her nature path.
I hate to burst your bubble now, but Nature, as She may have beauty, also has Her wrath.
Like earthquakes or a shark attack.
Cancer or a heart attack.
Like forest fires and a hurricane.
Tobacco and some sugar cane.
But sugar if the truth be told
Is fine to eat it its controlled.
But for you however it destroys your health.
One taste of sugar and you go crazy, you cant control yourself.
You lose yourself, you lose your verve.
You tangle up your dangled nerves.
THE MAN:
I beg to differ. It makes me looser.
THE SOUL:
I beg to differ. It makes you stiffer.
THE MAN:
It makes me sweeter. Makes me whole.
THE SOUL:
Then prove to me youve got control.
He grabs some cake. He grabs some cake.
13.
It comes to this. It comes to this.
The soul it seems has just one choice.
That choice must be to change his voice.
It comes to this. It comes to this.
THE SOUL:
No longer, man, we can just play.
This, your life, will end this way.
Unless you take a new outlook along with drastic measures.
And sacrifice your great obsessions for ordinary treasures.
Do you need to get some strange disease to get it through your head?
Or is this just a hopeless case, and best youd be if you be dead?
Or can you eat and drink well-balanced?
Are you geared to take this challenge?
With junk food, can you moderate?
And make the choice to modulate?
Too much sugar is bad for you.
But a little bit you could make do.
For if you walk this road some more
This road will end at Deathly Door.
THE MAN:
But Ive tried it all and nothing seems
To coincide with all my dreams.
THE SOUL:
Youve tried it all, except one way.
Just listen then to what I say.
Junk food and the diet fads
That tempt your mind when you see ads.
Those ads are there to steer I find
Not your body, just your mind.
And you are more than mind and brain.
Much more than all your hurt and pain.
Dont follow my diet with such fever and such zeal.
Just eat to feed your body, and enjoy your every meal.
What you eat and what you drink.
How you feel and what you think.
Exercise and attitude.
Resilience and your fortitude.
And dont forget your supplements and nutraceuticals.
Theyll give you strength and stamina and healthy cuticles.
THE MAN:
My fingers and my hands are fine. Really theyre okay.
In fact, I had a manicure just the other day.
She told me that each nail I had had a pretty moon.
I thanked her and I tipped her and she said to come back soon.
The soul grows weary from this diversion and so he takes a break.
The man, he feels, could maybe use another piece of cake.
It comes to this. It comes to this.
14.
The soul seems lost. The soul seems lost.
THE SOUL:
What can I, should I do?
Everything that I suggest, I cant get through to you.
The soul seems lost. The soul seems lost.
THE SOUL:
I might just have to take this route
That some would says the easy out.
But to me, it never seems to fail
If you cannot reason with the head, then why not try the tail?
I know it sounds a little crass.
But now I think its time for me to teach you how to kick your ass.
So the soul begins to use his body and if it were a puppet.
THE SOUL:
Youve been sitting way too long on your little tuffett.
So rise and shine, its time to glow.
And kick your booty as you go.
Suck in that gut.
And kick your butt.
Now let me see you go.
Now let me see you go.
Just take the heel of either foot and kick it where it counts.
Your foot is like a mountain cat. Just wind him up and pounce!
And there he goes.
And there he goes.
THE SOUL:
Now thats the way to do it, man, I am most impressed.
Thats the quickest and the furthest that anyones progressed.
THE MAN:
So what? Who cares? This too shall pass.
Its no big deal to kick my ass.
All I did was kick my ass.
I took my foot and kicked my ass!
THE SOUL:
Its perfect form the way you do it.
Now you know what you can do if you put your mind up to it.
15.
Kick ass.
Kick ass.
Kick ass.
The man continues for a while.
As he kicks his ass in style.
Kick ass.
Kick ass.
Kick ass.
Perspiration on his brow.
He is really moving now.
He starts to breathe a little faster.
THE MAN:
Ive got my very own AssMaster.
Im really thirsty. Need a drink.
I feel it now. Instead of think.
Now I feel I understand.
In the scheme of all thats good and grand.
When I feel the need to take things to extremes,
Just make sure and find a way it doesnt harm my dreams.
Because sometimes what I want to do may seem a bit extreme,
Because something somewhere in my life is less than what I need.
And to overcome it, the problem I believe
Is I take the thing that is already perfect and mess it up, it seems.
For I do not focus on the problem but I overcompensate
Something else that Ive no reason to underestimate.
I have a lot of catching up. And that is fine by me.
I have a journey now to take now that I am free.
I am more than brain and mind.
I am back. And Im behind.
Kick ass.
Kick ass.
Kick ass.
06/01/2003 Author's Note: Vitamins and Minerals was written in June 2003. It was originally performed as a One-Man-Poetry-Show at One Arm Red Theatre in DUMBO, Brooklyn. You can read the poem in its entirety. Or broken up in 15 individual pieces.
Posted on 03/19/2008
Copyright © 2024 David Garner
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