who is/was?

questions by rhoda penmarq

answers by google/wikipedia

who is the greatest writer of all time? - dostoevsky who is the greatest visual artist of all time? - picasso who is the nicest person who ever lived? - janusz korczak who is the worst person who ever lived? - jimmy savile who is the most beautiful woman who ever lived? - cleopatra who is the handsomest man who ever lived? - paul newman who is the greatest female writer of all time? - agatha christie and jane austen (tie) who is the greatest female visual artist of all time? - frida kahlo who is the greatest gay wrier of all time? - oscar wilde who is the greatest gay visual artist of all time? - keith haring who is the greatest lesbian writer of all time? - sappho who is the greatest lesbian visual artist of all time? - rosa bonheur who is the greatest non-binary writer of all time? - neon yang who is the greatest non-binary visual artist of all time? - jonathan lyndon chase who was the most powerful ruler of all time? - mansa musa who was the greatest military genius of all time? - napoleon what is the greatest novel ever written? - to kill a mockingbird what is the greatest poem ever written? - sonnet 18, by shakespeare what is the greatest picture ever painted? - starry night, by van gogh what is the greatest movie ever made? - citizen kane

ham and cheese

by bofa xesjum

a square named cheese and a hipster named ham met in a sandwich at 4 ay am they both fell in love with a girl named mustard their attentions left her flustered she had her sights set on a media career and worked for an old man who called her, my dear but ham and cheese would not be denied and invited her on a moonlight ride after some thought she politely declined and decided to report them to a hotline she left a message but got no reply by the old mill stream in the sweet bye and bye

screed

by anonymous

people are bad, they should be good this is widely understood and yet they go on day by day persisting in their disgusting ways they drive cars, instead of walking stare at their screens, instead of talking love trump, instead of marx and mao and drift through the years just anyhow as the apocalypse approaches they spend their money on life coaches drink lattes instead of water and do all sorts of things they they ought not oughter the sky is turning is red soon the earth will be floating dead in a dark and endless space with a lingering smile on its foolish face ignorant peasants, heed my screed air and water are all you need run to the woods and sit under a tree with the bears and termites live wild and free

bone

by bofa xesjum

johnny went down to the station to buy his dog a bone when he got back the dog was gone and johnny was all alone johnny was in a panic, he called 9-1-1 you have to help me, he exclaimed, i am not having any fun he put the bone in an envelope and mailed it to the pope and like the rest of the human race, he gave up all hope billions of people swarm the earth, licking ice cream cones but none of them contact johnny, on the net or on the telephone omar was a businessman, he bought and sold tents and at the end of every month, he collected rents he had his eye on johnny, who aroused his deepest suspicions and to expose johnny, was one of omar’s main ambitions albert jones was a citizen, who minded his own affairs he lived in a building, and went up and down the stairs he never ate donuts, only croissants and carried a wallet in the back pocket of his pants albert was polite to omar, but thought johnny was a punk and did not like the way he slouched and slunk around the sides of the building, and down the corridors but then again, what are rooms and buildings for? omar had a birthday, and bought himself a cake samantha smiled at him, but he thought the smile was fake omar dreamed of samantha, but was not up to the task who was samantha? i thought you would never ask

lonesome song

by horace p sternwall

in a lonesome graveyard when the moon went behind a cloud i heard my mama call me telling me to make her proud on a lonesome highway with the sheriff on my trail i heard my mama call me telling me i could not fail in a lonesome jail cell i heard the sheriff’s keys a-jangle they took me out to hanging tree and left me there to dangle in the lonesome forest they dug me a lonesome hole no more corn whiskey and no more jelly roll

a & b

by anonymous

humans walk through rain and snow knowing that wishing will make it so they feel the ice beneath their feet and know good fortune they will meet the burden of this song is that sometimes things go wrong so put one foot in front of another and save yourself a lot of bother * that is easy for you to say my rent do you wish to pay? my landlord wants his cash or i will be out in a flash i do not agree with your analysis your brain has paralysis don’t scream, don’t holler just give me a dollar

plant

by dog e relaford

i planted a flower but it did not grow i begged my love to stay but she said she had to go i went down to the city to ask the man for a job but he declined to give me one because my name was bob if my name was bill or joe i would have been all set i sat upon a bench and tried my troubles to forget a pigeon came along the street with eyes like bright black beads o rulers of the earth and sky help a poor man in his need

i knew it all along

by anonymous

i was weak and i wanted to be strong i was poor and i wanted to be rich i was ugly and i wanted to be beautiful i was nobody and i wanted to be famous i was despised and i wanted to be desired i was hated and i wanted to be loved i was mocked and i wanted revenge i wanted to rule the world but I was told to move along i said hello and I was told go away, don’t bother me i said goodbye and nobody noticed i sang a song and nobody listened i wrote a book and nobody read it i painted a picture and nobody looked at it i walked and nobody followed i got to the end of the street and it was silent i saw a light in a window but it did not shine on me i knocked on the door and nobody answered i kicked the door and hurt my foot i limped away and a dog barked at me i am under your window but you do not see me i have two dollars left in my pocket enough for a doughnut or a cup of coffee but not both and after that - who knows? it is starting to rain but i have no umbrella the wind is blowing and i have a hole in my shoe i look back at the house that had a light in the window but the light is out and the house is dark

Sick Poetics

Sick Poetics

                               moonsnake climb

             There are certain things

              that are only active

              in a bright silver moon ,the kind that comes

              between three , and four. Mistletoe

              and lemurs, for one -(and another)- and there are many others,

              who wake ,and listen , and grow in this

               luminescence - look about

                with large quiet eyes, crick crack leaves open,

                move in a subtle way

                around the trunk of a tree - even thus

                the moonsnake climbs, only to wait

                  through dark or heat, sometimes weeks

                before another hour like this.

2010.

pooches in palanquins

orchestrion breaths on lawns condensation
prevents dog mess from becoming coprolite
so many pooches in palanquins
sponsored by the unchipped
certain solace that fox and squirrel are still
red in these blood-letting latitudes.

/Jenny Enochsson

Image: Bal 1 - CHAM Wikipedia Commons

i wish i could draw

cat crawled into

   a lattice of clematis

 on the porch

       not invisible  ,not

hidden from the sun , but

      unnoticeable, and fat, and shaded

 from above. My love for her

     and the long thread-brown  stems

  she has found her way

         into  a cylinder of  ,  and

the sun,   and the way she

can't quite get her face comfortable

 these;  i wish i could draw ,  b

 cause  no  photo  could  show  you  

on the cedar planks in shifting s un

            how she did it

2010.