1. The National Interest
Ted Mathys
From now
on,
you write
about me.
http://www.poets.org/poemADay.php
17April 09

2. The National Interest
We are interested in long criminal histories
because we've never bedded down in a cellblock.
With the sibilance of wind through the swaying
spires of skyscrapers as my witness. When I say
cover your grenades I mean it's going to rain I mean
there is mischief in every filibuster of sun.
We are interested in rigorously arranging
emotions by color as we've never been fully
divested of blues. With drinking till my fingernails
hurt as my witness, with hurt as my witness.
When I say be demanding I mean be fully
individual while dissolving in the crowd.
Continued……
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20599

3. The National Interest
We are interested in characters who murder
because we've never committed it or to it. With
an origami frog in a vellum crown spinning on
a fishing line from the ceiling as my witness.
When I say please kneel with me I mean
between every shadow and sad lack falls a
word.
We are interested in ceaselessly setting floor
joists because we've never pulled a pole barn
spike from a foot. With bowing to soap your
ankles in the shower as my witness, lather as
my witness. When I say did you see the freckle
in her iris I mean the poem must reclaim the
nature of surveillance.
Continued……
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20599

4. The National Interest
We are interested in possessing others who possess
that which we possess but fear losing in the future.
With a fork as my witness. A dollop of ketchup,
hash brown, motion, with teeth as my witness.
When I say you I don't mean me I don't mean
an exact you I mean a composite you I mean God.
We are interested in God because we can't
possess God, because we can't possess you.
With a scrum of meatheads in IZOD ogling iPods
as my witness, technological progress as my witness.
When I say no such thing as progress in art I mean
quot;These fragments I have shored against my ruinsquot;
Continued……
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20599

5. The National Interest
We are interested in ambivalence as ribcages
resist being down when down, up when up.
With the swell of the argument and the moment
before forgiveness as my witness. When I say power
is exclusion I mean a box of rocks we don't
desire to deduce I mean knowing is never enough.
Continued……
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20599

6. Ted Mathys
Ted Mathys is the author of The Spoils
(Coffee House Press, 2009) and Forge
(Coffee House Press, 2005). Originally
from Ohio, he lives in Boston.
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/635226.Ted_Mathys

7. National Poetry Month
National Poetry Month is a month-long, national celebration of
poetry established by the Academy of American Poets. The
concept is to widen the attention of individuals and the media
— to the art of poetry, to living poets, to our complex poetic
heritage, and to poetry books and journals of wide aesthetic
range and concern.

8. THANK YOU
Presentation by Neelima
http://www.slideshare.net/Neelima.A