Press Conference at Miss Lilly’s Caribbean restaurant
New York City, August 1, 2012
You question his sincerity. That said,
you see a certain logic, call it truth,
to how the knitted crown of Tam O’Shanter
crosses over, green and gold and red.
You see it clearly in the golden tooth.
You hear it in his cold and stolen banter
as he lifts the chalice of the microphone
imparting his endorsement, claiming priests
from deep within the Cockpit changed his name.
You’re backing off and throwing him a bone
despite ambivalence regarding beasts
that hound his moniker. He is the same.
The doggy gangsta lolling like a Buddha.
The Lion of Rastafari, Peace, and Judah.
Rick Mullin’s poetry has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including American Arts Quarterly, The Raintown Review, and Unsplendid, Méasŭre. His epic poem Soutine, on the life of the painter Chaim Soutine, was published earlier this year by Dos Madres Press in Loveland, Ohio. His book-length poem, Huncke, was published by Seven Towers, Dublin, Ireland, in 2010. And his chapbook, Aquinas Flinched, was published by the Modern Metrics imprint of Exot Books, New York City, in 2008. A second chapbook, The Stones Jones Canzones, will be published by Finishing Line Press, Georgetown, Kentucky.
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