Alexis Rhone Fancher
This is not a poem. Bam! This is an assault to your senses, a rape of your status quo. This is not a poem, not some trendy leopard print, not a polka dot parade. No. You do not smell hot dogs, cotton candy or frankincense. The myrrh has left the building. This is not a poem. It’s an anthem, a declaration of noncompliance, a liberation proclamation. Snap! Snap! This is not a poem. It’s a love song a torch song a song of myself and not you, you’re not worth it. No tears, got it? Don’t act like a girl. Blow your nose, wipe your eyes. Don’t make yourself look stupid! This is not a poem. It’s salt poured on the wound. Can it feel? Only if I let it burn too deeply. This is not a poem. No! It isn’t good enough. No. I’ve read poems & it’s not the same. Snap! Snap! This is not a poem. It’s a hip hop of my own creation, a celebration of my brains, my breasts, my underground caverns. This is not a poem. It’s a rite of passage, a starry night, a reluctant homage to your name, spelled out in lonely Broadway lights. My life goes dark without you, honey. Clap! Clap! This is not a poem. You with your lust, with your X-ray eyes. Listen up now. Be careful how you love me, grateful for second chances. Don’t push too hard. I might surprise you, you’ll see I’m tougher than I look; I eat Bukowski for breakfast.
All Rights Reserved
© 2009
The Juice Bar 
God, I remember this! Even more fabulous reading it, but I still heard your voice, deep, dark and LOUD!!!!!
You’re exceptional!
xoxoxo
J
Alexis, this sounds like a photogra;h: it combines your great skills of both a writer and a photographer. Snap, snap: you’re great.
Roz
anger….that’s good….
I like this even better the second time around!! 🙂
Alexis, This is Not a Poem is even better the second time around. Your voice is so powerful and makes me want to climb mountains and do things I’ve only read about doing because I’m such a scaredy cat in my bones. It has a similar resonance to the Helen Reddy song, I AM WOMAN. You are something else!!!!!
Love you,
Roz
If its not a poem, it still sounds pretty damn good!
Fragments of fallen rock…….Foothills at best………I look up at you and know there is a mountain yet to conquer!
alexis, i love it. finally a poem (or non poem i understood). oh, by the way i dated bukowsky’s wife.
Cool. So, what? You ate her BEFORE breakfast??
if this is not a poem, then you are surely one of the finest unpoets i have bumped into. life remarkble, like your work!
So beatifully “in your face”, such a celebration of you finding you. Could be my favorite of yours.
Love it! Some how seems to capture all the restless change we’re experiencing in the world as we leave what we were and move to something we can’t completely imagine.
A-girl, you keep me connected, even when I’m gone. Love this one.
I love it! Bam!
This is not reply, bam. It’s in a love letter to a friend! This is not a reply.
Sensational Alexis… and I am loving the ending!!
Your voice sounds gusty and sure-footed, secure in being loved.
Powerful!! Never saw the anger with you. Great
oofta, alexis.
this is a bang and a shout.
and i love that last line….
i love you, too.