Start Spreading The Ooze

My idea for an interaction with Paul Guest's My Index Of Slightly Horrifying Knowledge came pretty early on. He has a couple of poems called "Audio Commentary", and I thought it would be fun to revisit a movie that I hadn't seen in over a decade, and watch it with the sound and subtitles off and write a poem to it.

I spent a couple off weeks fighting with writing a poem about Police Academy IV but it's tough to laugh about police these days.

I thought I might have to scrap the idea completely when someone brought up Gremlins 2 in conversation, and I realized it would make a great Self-Help poem.

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Audio Commentary: Gremlins 2 The New Batch
​Adam Stone

The sidekick becomes the main attraction and nothing
works out Flattened Belittled Dressed for spectacle
New york Limo in the gutter
A television asks an ancient stereotype to change
into the costume of expectations The past refuses
Even the parody of the future looks dated
The gentrification of history
relocates love into science Remember
when you could smoke in buildings as long as you were
off the clock The introduction of those important
enough to survive the plot
The adorability of depression
Everyone who wants is blind to
the prize's needs Sometimes rules
are broken by chance Sometimes
the next generation seems unrecognizable yet
familiar Devouring Infestation
Everything on video Putting the mimes back in boxes
Love is always a misunderstading
The monsters have taken over
the television studios It's raining doom
The monsters dress just like us
now Shred them Evacuate
the extras Invite your enemies into your arms
Let science improve your chances of survival
Adapt Become a smarter monster Surrender your desire
to become something permanent Interrupt your own narrative
for a gag To beg cameo from
a different kind of monster Opportune
Explore your identity as a monster
capable of being desired
Evolve
Confront the parts of yourself no one believes in
Put your devil on
hold Allow yourself to get caught
                                      to find out who will come to rescue you
When you recognize the demon in yourself
kill it in front of everyone
Burn down your progeny to save your now Stage
a musical number to horrify the people
who've stuck with you
Give your demons everything they've dreamed then
use them to kill each other When the rescue party comes
reveal how you've already saved yourself
Show them how you keep
the potential of your future undoing
in a box Shine a bright light on it