SCRUPULOUS TEMPTATIONS by Pam Benjamin

Infuse joy and Lent
Christ in the desert

Large quantities of
shock and chemical mercy.

Biologically there is no God and
telepathic insight resembles schizophrenia.

Conditioned to mystical surgery.
A decomposing visionary sits troubled in the corner.

The party continues:
                              Did you try the wine?
                              She burned down the house to roast that pig.
                              Don't pigeonhole the Mexican peasant.
Nothing is Eden.

The world sits directly behind these voices.
Intolerable surroundings and moral infections,

comfortable intellect and spiritual fashion
create religious overtones

and the party continues.

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Pam Benjamin is a poet turned stand-up comic. She is also the Program Director of www.mutinyradio.fm. Listen to "Pamtastic's Comedy Clubhouse" every Fri 8-11pm pac. Oh, and buy her novella "Voices" on Kindle here:http://www.amazon.com/Voices-Pam-Benjamin-ebook/dp/B005L3RQQW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1386192534&sr=8-2&keywords=voices+pam+benjamin

PRIVATE EYES by Pam Benjamin

Who dares to think they are watching?
I am the god-damned riff-raff
parading around nude
open windows and
four storied neighbors.

You slip quarters in the slot to roll up the door
where shame doesn't exist.
Don't be virtuous with a dick in your hand
or pretend this hasn't happened before,
we all have seen your face.

Switch into another drink
slip off those hard earned shoes
and watch the sky glow to neon.
The blinking tits against deep purple
light every mistake on the sidewalk.

Don't put your head in your hands
as if you hold the weight of this whole city.
Some supernatural cog jerked from time
the lonely hero thinking about
his poor sister in Colorado.

I am the sugar on this hot night.
All my lips are parted and moist,
Yes. Press against glass.
I will hide in a splinter of beautiful light
and pretend my business is private.

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Pam Benjamin is a poet turned stand-up comic. She is also the Program Director of www.mutinyradio.fm. Listen to "Pamtastic's Comedy Clubhouse" every Fri 8-11pm pac. Oh, and buy her novella "Voices" on Kindle here:http://www.amazon.com/Voices-Pam-Benjamin-ebook/dp/B005L3RQQW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1386192534&sr=8-2&keywords=voices+pam+benjamin

GOD SMELLS GOOD by Pam Benjamin

A homeless man accused me of not caring.
Is caring different than love?
They say love is 90% smell.
It's hard to love people who smell bad.

I usually love bad people;
people who have been to jail
or who are jailed by their mother's memory.
My bad-ass Mother did neither.

None of my fingers would scan when I was bad;
my prints wouldn't show in jail.
The Uniforms showed they didn't care;
I didn't call my Mother.

My Mother is unusually affected by smells;
she wouldn't sit behind the garlic man in church,
it reeks from his pores, she under breath accused.
God, who wants the best tapenade, loves him.

How do you affect love?
Neither God nor my Mother care.
I want the best smells;
it's hard to smell people who love bad.

#

Pam Benjamin is a poet turned stand-up comic. She is also the Program Director of www.mutinyradio.fm. Listen to "Pamtastic's Comedy Clubhouse" every Fri 8-11pm pac. Oh, and buy her novella "Voices" on Kindle here:http://www.amazon.com/Voices-Pam-Benjamin-ebook/dp/B005L3RQQW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1386192534&sr=8-2&keywords=voices+pam+benjamin