Jonathan Brown — The Rhino Sanctuary if rhinos were ideas

Let your eyes adjust.

Eyes take a little while

to adjust to differences in light.

If you go from a very bright environment

and walk outside into the night,

you’ll be blind at first, until

PoetryJonathan BrownJune 16, 2020BLM, Poetry, Jonathan BrownComment

The Morning the Fast Slows

Let me cut the fat. There’s nothing that

can stop me, not even me. I feel

my way through, grateful

to have all my fingers

to put a dent in the precedent.

PoetryJonathan BrownMay 16, 2020fasting, Poetry, Jonathan Brown, gratitudeComment

Rules of the Fast

10. All veggies.

11. Buncha stir-fry.

12. Lotta salads.

13. Whole lotta mushrooms.

14. Mad carrots.

15. Zucchini like you mean it.

PoetryJonathan BrownMay 12, 2020fast, health, poetry, poem, Jonathan Brown, New Orleans, carrots, beans, rice, gluten freeComment

Bee-lief System: A Stuck Inside Poem, Day 32

Do you have one of those friends who

is so paranoid and confused and cynical

that you wish they would just join a cult

already?

PoetryJonathan BrownApril 19, 2020Poetry, Jonathan Brown, CultsComment

What in the Reincarnation is This? A Stuck Inside Poem, Day 31

So in the following life, you became a traffic light,

which seemed mundane at first. Blinking

in three different colors over and over again

and staying still until the storm hit.

PoetryJonathan BrownApril 18, 2020reincarnation, Poetry, Creative Writing, Jonathan BrownComment

Know Your Worth

You’re a world renowned concert violinist

playing a Stradivarius in the metro station

and nobody gives a shit.

PoetryJonathan BrownApril 17, 2020Stradivarius, Poetry, Poem, Creative Writing, Jonathan Brown, New OrleansComment

Nero(1) A Stuck Inside Poem: Day 28

[1] After I learned Seneca, the dude who coined stoicism, was Nero’s tutor, it became more obvious that stoicism is indeed for psychopaths.

PoetryJonathan BrownApril 15, 2020Nero, Poetry, Poem, Creative Writing, Stuck inside Poem, Jonathan Brown, stoicism, SenecaComment

Stressed Out and Stretched Out: A Stuck Inside Poem, Day 26

That’s all any of us can really offer.

A hand that’s outstretched.

It’s also the one thing we cannot accept.

You don’t know who’s been coughing.

PoetryJonathan BrownApril 13, 2020Poetry, New Orleans, Jonathan Brown, Stuck inside PoemComment

If a Tree Falls in the Forced in Two Parts: A Stuck Inside Poem, Day 21

I was told slow and steady wins the race,

but I don’t take sex advice from animals

who never leave their homes.

What does a turtle know about purple explosions?

PoetryJonathan BrownApril 7, 2020Poetry, If a Tree Falls, New Orleans, Jonathan Brown, Creative Writing, BlogComment

1:04 AM, New Orleans: A Stuck Inside Poem. Day 19

I felt like the 911 operator

felt a type of way

because I didn’t want to give her my name.

Like I was keeping something from her.

PoetryJonathan BrownApril 5, 2020New Orleans, Poetry, Stuck inside Poem, Creative Writing, Jonathan Brown, CoronavirusComment

We Jazz June. We.

We are extras lost in the crowd

of Apocalypse Now.

No quirky crime drama starring Fauci

as the virus investigator.

One of my heroes died yesterday

in real life.

The line between murder

and negligence has never been

so thin.

PoetryJonathan BrownApril 4, 2020Poetry, We Real Cool., GWENDOLYN BROOKS, Jonathan Brown, New Orleans, Coronavirus, Creative WritingComment

Thoughts on The Artist Way’s Morning Pages

I often rummage through old journals

like I’m on an Easter egg hunt.

They’re not called found poems for nothing.

You gotta look for them.

PoetryJonathan BrownApril 2, 2020Artists Way, Morning Pages, Poem, Poetry, Jonathan Brown, Creative Writing, New Orleans, Julia CameronComment

This One Time, At Tourlife Camp: A Stuck Inside Poem, Day 15

The only thing I wanted in life

that night was the approval

of the guy who wrote “Everybody Hurts.”

PoetryJonathan BrownApril 1, 2020REM, Poetry, Go Bar, Creative Writing, Athens GA, Jonathan Brown, Paige Beller, Michael StipeComment

Jelly, It’s Supposed to be Jelly: A Stuck Inside Poem, Day 14

Just as soon as I thought things were looking up,

somebody retweeted a pic of a refrigerator truck

outside of the ICU. Now, I can’t unsee it.

PoetryJonathan BrownMarch 31, 2020New Orleans, Poetry, Jonathan Brown, Stuck inside Poem, Coronavirus, Creative WritingComment

Survivor's Guilt on 1000

Are you even quarantining

if you don’t have a family member

compulsively texting you the rona updates?

I have two homies in the hospital.

They’re healthy. They’re young.

PoetryJonathan BrownMarch 29, 2020poetry, Creative Writing, New Orleans, Jonathan Brown, Coronavirus, Survivors GuiltComment

List of Things to Think and Do Today: A Stuck Inside Poem, Day 6

1. Reduce despair.

2. Leave the house but don’t go anywhere.

3. Don’t argue with people on the internet. You already don’t, but don’t think about arguing with people on the internet. You validate bullshit by engaging with it, even silently.

4. Eat the spinach before it goes bad.

5. Call your dad.

6. Draw a bath.

7. Draw a porcupine.

PoetryJonathan BrownMarch 23, 2020Poems, List Poem, Creative Writing, Jonathan Brown, Stuck inside PoemComment

Lenny Bruce, The Later Years: A Stuck Inside Poem, Day 4

Maybe this is all a fever dream

and neither the screams nor the shouts

coming from my neighbor’s house are not

directed at her three dogs.

Maybe she’s yelling at hell

to get back in its box.

Eat The Rich: A Stuck Inside Poem, Day 3

Dog magic would make a really good YouTube channel.

Just you and your puppy. You performing

card tricks and your puppy

bedazzled with intrigue and drooling for treats.

PoetryJonathan BrownMarch 20, 2020Poetry, Poem, Creative Writing, Janet Jackson, Eat The Rich, Poems, Jonathan BrownComment