Exceptionally Rare Bird, image by Ed Coletti
The Awful Truth
in the key of “b”
It’s still hard for me
to have a clear mind thinking on it.
But it’s the truth
even if it didn’t happen.
—Chief Bromden in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
1.
Big Bill busted-up blown
beyond Battery Park
blinded blast-bound brief bit
bombed boy begun in Bronx
bomb-borne beyond Berkeley
badass-babinski banker-accepted
biochemical brassring bingo
bigleague bet-the-barn farm board
(before Bush bet the bigger bundle)
befell befalling biodegrading
bagpipe-bugle bell-book blaring
big bond brokers belly boarding
Brooklyn Bridge and Britain-Boston
bonds bonding bodies bonded
be-falling bog-men befouling bottomless
blasé bookish brownstone buildings
barbaric balkanizing baggage
bastardly bedouin brews bad beer
bam blam Batman’s burdened balls
besotted by Bin laden’s boorish bravado
bacillus breeding bad behavior
back-diving baptism-by-brashy-boarding
beguine begun by Bush big brother
biliously bought the bingo-card,
beginning Baghdad’s biracial bleeding
2.
Before such blasts
both buildings built
blowing bout-to-burst
bubbles beckoning boldening
barking bedouin braves’
barely-believed bonanza
bridging Benghazi with Baghdad’s
brief boredom bought and brought
brutish British black arts
beneath Brooklyn Bridge
bufoonist Bush brother burger
beer bourbon-blunted brigand
beast-bought boiled buried
bindage-bridled brigandly blackjacked
barbarian bed-wetter bout to be blessėd
Boston-bound Blakey boom blowing
boom boom band born
bye bye before beats beatnik
blacklisted by bully-boys
breezy bard be-ins being in
blacklisted by bully boy bard-ons
Baghad-By-Bay berated by
bankers bleating badass bandaid barf
ballumbus/broadway bookstore
bonanza Baltamont-blunted back to
Brooklyn back back back to
benzine’s burn baksheesh burp
Bopahl-by-Bayside
bummer of blood-barking
beasts burdened brought bellowing
Barbarossa’s bankclerk bagmen
barbarian-bombarded battered
bingocarding bet-the-farmers
by-the-brass-book blelievers
'bout to be biblically befallen
balckguards’ blackarts
blackheaded bald blockheads
bemoaning blown becalmed boredom
burdened betimes by bloody
breakneck brutes befouling bite-sized
brides and birthday bliss
ballroom-bright-ballsy
beam brandished by
burnished bronze
boat bell below
burning buildings
‘bout to bishop-blunder
beserkly Bowery-bound
by-the-by between
batches of barrage balloons
brief beliefs believers believe-in
bunches of beautiful boy babies
’bout to be beneficently born.
—Ed Coletti
