Today I want to feature a poet many of you may not be familiar with, but should be.
I met Dan Denton and a few of his Toledo compadres at a small press conference in Indiana several years ago. Dan is an auto worker at the Jeep assembly plant in Toledo, and a proud member of the UAW. He is also an awesome poet.
Since that first meeting Dan has: installed a podcast studio in his home and a podcast https://noduckstudios.com/about, started publishing a regular poetry zine called Lunch Bucket Brigade (two of my own poems appear in LBB#2), published a couple of poetry books and a novel, hosted several live Facebook events, been elected chief steward in his department at Jeep, and become one of my favorite poets. I often refer to him as the reincarnation of Bukowski. Look him up!
In the meantime, enjoy this one:
Rip Your Vocal Cords Out, by Dan Denton
Rip your vocal cords out
and whisper me a love song
Nobody reports the news anymore
they just tell stories
the news channels
should not tell stories
Nobody covers
the Squirrel Nut Zippers
just Free Bird
and Sweet Home Alabama
Rock and Roll
died a sudden death
in 1994
and Garth Brooks
strangled all the heart
out of country music
the radio no longer has any guts
Today's college degree
is tomorrow's ticket to conformity
The monks don't
set themselves on fire anymore
they don't pray out loud either
Denny's grand slam breakfast
hasn't hit it out of the park
in this decade
and the coffee is strongest
at midnight
So strong
the diner is now open
25 hours a day
Lord help me, I can't change
I'll set myself on fire
before I salute your anthem
The flag never had
any guts to start with
Your backbone is brittle
The artists are almost extinct
there are no more poets
Just factory workers
and baristas
and accountants
and college professors
trying to become poets
The poem always comes
after you quit trying
they never learn that
at the universities
Uncle Sam will no longer
finance your reassignment,
the military complex
sees no profit there
The patriots are missiles
Liberating those
that just wanted to be left alone
The Patriots are football players
The real Patriots
argue on social media
I would delete my Facebook account
but without notifications
How would I know that I am
How would my government
keep track of me
Nobody falls in love anymore
Couples map out their lives
in corporate coffee shops
They turned free love
into a commodity
you have to pay to play
Love is a protest
Jesus got hijacked
by some crazy people
Push the un- mute button
and whisper me lies
don't let me drift off to sleep
with all this sadness
Tell me it's all a nightmare
Tell me that none of it is real
Make me believe in fairy tales
Rip your vocal cords out
and whisper me a love song.