Bunkong Tuon

Why It’s Not Good To Emulate Your Favorite Writers

I took a drag from a red pack of Marlboro
                                    & coughed up my lungs.
I took a swig of tequila, the worm stuck in my throat
                                    & I puked out my guts.
I mouthed off to a bartender, he called the cop
                                    & I spent a night in jail.

I befriended a homeless man, he pulled out a blade
                                    & I handed him my wallet.
I took a swing at my father, he got the best of round one
                                    & beat the crap out of me.
I picked up a prostitute who happened to be a cop,
                                    & I was put in jail again.

I never did get that poetry book published.

 

Bunkong Tuon is a Cambodian-American writer and critic. He is the author of Gruel, And So I Was Blessed (both published by NYQ Books), The Doctor Will Fix It (Shabda Press), and Dead Tongue (a chapbook with Joanna C. Valente, Yes Poetry). He teaches at Union College, in Schenectady, NY. He tweets @BunkongTuon