"Pen & Paper" (National Poetry Month poem-a-day) Day 23

Written by Bruce A. Pandolfo
4/23/2017

Andy Austin was a regular in court
for over four decades.
She harassed a judge until she could get in there.
Hardly left since.
She's routinely looked mobsters and murderers
right in the eye unflinching.

She's traded smiles casually with
John Wayne Gayce.
Unafraid.

She once drew on a woman
and made her look real bad
simply because the lady wouldn't
give an inch for Andy to sit.

Like most people, 
Andy doesn't enjoy being present for murder trials 
(because they're boring.)
Not enough passion, she says.
She's framed dozens of killers, cleptos, and convicts.
Her walls are adorned with pictures
of folks who would make you shudder.

Bit of a sketchy character really.
But then...that's her job,

Chicago Courtroom sketch artist. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2023 Booklist and Recommendations (with links)

Image
  Reading Capote's In Cold Blood between typewriting poems for folks at the Three Village Farmers Market in Setauket, NY Am I obliged to start every New Year's reading list/recap with shock at the passage of time?  I think I won't, although I'll comment on that inevitability a little later... 2023 Reading list: Counting plays and individual trade paperbacks, I read nearly 80 books in 2023.   Clearly, reading is an obsession for me. Escapism. Learning. ADHD-prompted insatiability for novelty (pardon the pun, and pardon saying “pardon the pun” I loathe it.)   Part of it is also the desire to flesh out my imagined expansive private study/library, a fantasy I’ve harbored since I first saw Disney’s Beauty and The Beast.   Sometimes the books and their particulars linger long after, other times they fade leaving only a line of dialogue, or clever twist, or concept or brilliant structure that stays with me.   Often, I jump hungrily to the next book the very same day. This
Read more

DJ BMO & AllOne debut collaboration with "Anima Mundi" Remix!

DJ BMO aka Kyle Banks, who has been my DJ pretty officially since January 2016, just released his second EP "Phantasy" !   It is a MUST LISTEN! Especially for fans of EDM, Hip-Hop, electronica, dubstep, party music or any good hip hop.  I feel "Phantasy" is an improvement from his already impressive   "Bento Box" EP from last year.  Kyle is one of the most hard working and driven artists I know.  He is always pushing his craft, performing more nights a week than not and often creating new material for these sets constantly.  He rarely plays the same set twice and he is always doing something new and interesting.  Somehow in all the times we've performed together we have yet to collaborate...until now that is!  On "Phantasy" Kyle remixed Gramatik's "Anima Mundi" for a closing song and did me the honor of asking me to rap on it.  He entrusted me with complete creative freedom. That's a dangerous thing to tell me.  Two we
Read more

The Power of Artistry (and art's poignancy in quarantine)

Image
Hello AllOne Family, I hope this message finds you safe, healthy and wonderfulfilled. Yesterday I was reading the transcript of Alan Moore's brilliant performance piece "Snakes & Ladders" (incredibly recommended, though esoteric reading). His words are accompanied in the offering by the multimedia visual artist Eddie Campbell. Afterwards, I was watching an excerpt of an interview with the great Alan Moore where he shares some important insight into the power that artists once had, specifically in the bardic and satire traditions. (Here's another link to the interview segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LYgkN2Ajmk ) Moore then infers this empowering historical truth could have great import for modern artists. "If artists actually remembered the power that they used to have, then I think that...if they treated their art as if it were magic... if they gave their creativity the respect that they would give a God, then I think th
Read more