Three Minutes, Zero Seconds— Or Slaming the Slam, And All Other Timed Readings of Poetry
	I want my lines to be like dreams dreaming of dreams dreaming; I want my lines to be like spider webs in all corners of the universe leading anywhere and everywhere, through cracks and crevices into the imagination; I want my lines to be intrigues, colossal and without end, and an indictment of reality as they unfold; ... TIME CHECK: 25 SECONDS Green between houses, spouses espousing, love sousing, lush green grass; What did that mean? fields, folds, fresh cuts, sluts, hay, new blooms doomed to blades of sharp steel, ruts of plows, sows, siblings sidling; Did he just like the sound? ... TIME CHECK: 43 SECONDS Alliteration altercation; onomatopoeia, whoosh, shush, cuckoo, haiku; out of mind, binding mind to time; rhyme with rhythm, rhythm-rhyme; looking for the door to metaphor, the simile like a symbol for the cymbal crashing; ... TIME CHECK: 55 SECONDS Through the door, the passage, the fragrance of the rose, there is the lute and the lyre; the fleeting notes of the flute; mandolin-mad nights of merry music and love; passionate poetry pastimes; tales of whales; wind in sails; rhythm and rhyme; meter without master; la marteau sans maître; ligne libre; homme et femme libres; amour libre; libre libre ... TIME CHECK: 1 MINUTE, 15 SECONDS "We will eat like mice, comme souris," said Carine. "And we can look for the lost metaphor in the purple tint of the wine. You like looking for lost things—'memories' and 'the lost child in the grass'. ... TIME CHECK: 1 MINUTE, 23 SECONDS Sharazad, let us never rob love its due, sobbing; Lovely lady, let us pay our bill right now. Your veil unveiled and bosom bare, your hair brushing my cheek, eyes dancing, heart throbbing, tell us a tale of better times, of rhymes sweet and delicious as the Persian pear.... TIME CHECK: 1 MINUTE, 30 SECONDS Like flowers pink and white; Comme des fleurs roses et blanches; Like a garden with a path that leads somewhere you want to go; Comme un jardin avec un chemin qui mène là où vous voulez aller; ... TIME CHECK: 1 MINUTE, 43 SECONDS I want to push my words to the boundaries of all known worlds—then beyond; I want the lasting words, the enduring and endearing ones, to go casting about in space and time, becoming universal travelers and vagabonds, abandoning rhyme and all the other old familiar tricks; Vagabandymefa; Let them go as exiles in search of new meaning and utterance in uncharted territories of mindspace.... TIME CHECK: 2 MINUTES, 4 SECONDS I only want to speak words that resonate—that excite the heart, that resound in mind, brain, and body, that stir the imagination. I have no use for words without resonance, that die the moment they are spoken, that pluck no kindred chord in some other place, mind, or heart. I want the chamber, the hall, the mansion—the valley, the mountain, the plain—to echo with my words.... TIME CHECK: 2 MINUTES, 23 SECONDS The moment disappears into the past, lost forever, while the future becomes the present, so soon I am not ready for it. I want to stop time; seeing the sea, eye of the sky, I just want to be. I have spent so many moments as a slave in forced mental labor, thinking about things of no interest to me.... TIME CHECK: 2 MINUTES, 38 SECONDS I wanted to make love to the moon but the moon said, "You are not new enough or blue enough or full enough for me. Beat it!" I wanted to make love to the sun but the sun said, "You are not big enough for me or hot enough for my passion; while burning you alive I would feel nothing at all. Beat it!" I wanted to make love to the night but the night said, "You are not dark enough or deep enough for me; people would see us and laugh. How embarrassing! Beat it!" ... TIME CHECK: 3 MINUTES, 0 SECONDS, STOP! STOP RIGHT NOW! (The poet is tackled to the floor by a burly bailiff, then lead from the performance hall, nose bleadng.) LET THAT BE A LESSON ...
	By Louis Martin