by Jeff T. Johnson
is violating the human
condition is like unlike is
never caught in sweatpants
is hyperbolized sexual
is hyperbolized sexual
costumes is monstrous
infarction is and or neither
is hyperboolean ra(n)ge is
infarction is and or neither
is hyperboolean ra(n)ge is
integrated accoutrements of
royalty is the sacred
spectacle is the catchy
surface is a halo of hair is
the monster of praise is
cartoonized space is
parabolic grace is grotesque
prose is the coughing void
is out of the oracular is the
body without body is after
attribution is distraction as
attention is sequential
impairment is the ghost of
reason is sublime
ambivalence is performative
slumber is dynamic
boredom is normalizing grief
is plasticizing
contextualization is formal
where is captive audio is
blandishment in armor is
pungent revision is
captivated irony is the
inversion of sensory discourse
is the discourse of sensory
inversion is reversion
reserved to function is
grammar control tactic is
conscious image conscience is
formerly known is the
original copy is the copy is
the copy is the monster’s
costume is the formula’s
formulation is the
formulation is association by
commerce is the sighs of the
masses is the virtual missive
& gagagagagagagagagagagaga
*This poem borrows language and ideas from Meghan Vicks's critical essay "The Icon and the Monster: Lady Gaga is a Trickster of American Pop Culture," published in Gaga Stigmata.
Author Bio:
Jeff T. Johnson's poetry is forthcoming in Slope, and has appeared in VOLT, Caketrain, Cannibal and Calaveras. He attends the graduate program in creative writing at The New School.