forty neon buddhas
First published in the 2010 Jack Straw Anthology, during my time as a fellow in the Jack Straw Writers Program. You can also listen to a Jack Straw podcast of me reading some of these and selected longer poems. See also 3Lights, 12 neon buddhas, and my neon buddha photo haiga.
A friend once asked me where the neon buddha came from. In reply, I almost said Toledo. More accurately, he’s an avatar—sometimes a surrogate for me and what I’ve done or would like to do, both ordinary and extraordinary, and sometimes an everyman who’s definitely not me. The neon buddha is also like the Travelocity garden gnome—a little naïve or overwhelmed by the world, but always game for adventure. And perhaps he’s like R. Crumb’s Mr. Natural—an underground sage who likes to have fun and can’t resist a double meaning. Or he’s like John Berryman’s “dream song” everyman Henry, sometimes too serious for his own good. I’ve written many hundreds of these haiku-like poems (perhaps similar to the Spanish greguería form), which have unfolded as a surreal sort of personal mythology.
the neon buddha
says the word over and over
vestibule
neon buddha
can’t get no satisfaction
but he knows his grammar
neon buddha is
running with the deviled
eggs
he is woman
hear him roar
neon buddha
neon buddha’s finger
breaks through
the toilet paper
the neon buddha
dies again and again
in the rose garden
riverrun
the neon buddha
and old it’s
the neon buddha sometimes confuses
what’s on his mind
with what’s on his head
to see what it’s like
the neon buddha licks
the Taj Mahal
deciding
to procrastinate later
neon buddha
coming to the garage
with an axe to grind
neon buddha
as luck would have it
the neon buddha’s lottery ticket
didn’t win
foreign trip
neon buddha practices saying
no way, José
neon buddha
beats his wife
at tiddlywinks
filial piety
the neon buddha
looks it up
playing second fiddle
in the Solipsist Marching Band
neon buddha
wishing everyone
a Jiminy Christmas
neon buddha
no one laughs
at his droll jokes
neon buddha
no one laughs
at his troll jokes either
neon buddha
neon buddha
on the library steps
reading between the lions
giving 110 percent
at the mathematics convention
neon buddha
neon buddha tells the waitress
she has a nice figure
of speech
checking the oil
of forgetfulness
neon buddha
the drinkability
of whatever beer that is
neon buddha
neon buddha
crazy like a fox
reporter
bear market
the neon buddha
takes a bath
traffic light
the neon buddha
plays air guitar
you know
what the last line will be
neon buddha
neon buddha thinks
that all good children
go to 7-Eleven
neon buddha asks
the comedy club stage manager
who’s on first
neon buddha wants to be
an absolute monarch
butterfly
neon buddha says
it’s not just for breakfast anymore
Dos Equis
at his favourite deli
the neon buddha asks
for the super salad
neon buddha
misreads the bar sign
please wait to be sated
neon buddha says
making toast
is still cooking
last day of the year
neon buddha’s resolutions
in invisible ink
finding
just a spoon in the road
neon buddha
the neon buddha
builds a better mouse trap
at Disneyland
bowling night
the neon buddha
strikes again
if you see
the neon buddha on the road
kill him