Ted Richer
Six Figurations

From the print issue: Chokehold on Eric Garner /mp3 | I Have to Write Shalom /mp3 | Online exclusives: Message /mp3 | Of Color /mp3 | Like That /mp3 | Chorus /mp3)

Chokehold on Eric Garner

1.

wait

. . .

stop

. . .

please

2.

stop

. . .

please

. . .

wait

3.

please

. . .

wait

. . .

stop

4.

wait

. . .

stop

. . .

please

5.

stop

. . .

I can't breathe

Chokehold on Eric Garner /mp3 | I Have to Write Shalom /mp3 |
Message /mp3 | Of Color /mp3 | Like That /mp3 | Chorus /mp3)

I Have to Write Shalom

1.

I have to write shalom

. . .

to all of the new writers

. . .

I have to write shalom

. . .

to them

. . .

I have to write

. . .

I have to write

. . .

shalom

2.

I have to write shalom

. . .

to one of the old writers

. . .

I have to write shalom

. . .

to hashem

. . .

I have to write

. . .

I have to write

. . .

shalom

Chokehold on Eric Garner /mp3 | I Have to Write Shalom /mp3 |
Message /mp3 | Of Color /mp3 | Like That /mp3 | Chorus /mp3)

Message

1.

After we had made love the first time

. . .

and I hadn't heard from you for a day

. . .

I called you up-and left a message:

. . .

"Haven't we been apart long enough?"

2.

After we had made love that other time

. . .

and I hadn't heard from you for a week

. . .

I called you up-and left my message:

. . .

"Haven't we been apart long enough?"

3.

After we had made love that last time

. . .

and I hadn't heard from you in a year

. . .

I called you up-and left my message:

. . .

"Haven't we been apart long enough?"

4.

haven't we

. . .

been apart

Chokehold on Eric Garner /mp3 | I Have to Write Shalom /mp3 |
Message /mp3 | Of Color /mp3 | Like That /mp3 | Chorus /mp3)

Of Color

1.

blue

. . .

over white

. . .

over black

. . .

in red

2.

blue

. . .

over white

. . .

over black

. . .

to red

3.

blue

. . .

over white

. . .

over black

. . .

into red

4.

black

. . .

blood

Chokehold on Eric Garner /mp3 | I Have to Write Shalom /mp3 |
Message /mp3 | Of Color /mp3 | Like That /mp3 | Chorus /mp3)

Like That

1.

"Do you think of me as old?" she said:

. . .

"Do you think of me like that?"

. . .

"I don't think of you as old," I said:

. . .

"not yet, like that."

. . .

"I think of me as old," she said:

. . .

"Hate that."

2.

"Do you think of us as old?" she said:

. . .

"Do you think of us like that?"

. . .

"I don't think of us as old," I said:

. . .

"not yet, like that."

. . .

"I think of us as old," she said:

. . .

"Love that."

3.

Like what?

. . .

Like what?

Chokehold on Eric Garner /mp3 | I Have to Write Shalom /mp3 |
Message /mp3 | Of Color /mp3 | Like That /mp3 | Chorus /mp3)

Chorus

1.

is there nothing

. . .

in the world

. . .

worse than a woman

. . .

like you

. . .

save some other

. . .

woman

2.

there is nothing

. . .

in the world

. . .

worse than a woman

. . .

like you

. . .

save some other

. . .

woman

3.

Aristophanes thought so

. . .

I know I ought to

_ _

>> Click on the following titles to download mp3 recordings of Zachary Bos reading each of Ted Richer's six figurations: Chokehold on Eric Garner; I Have to Write Shalom; Message; Of Color; Like That; Chorus. (These files may be shared without limitation.)

Ted Richer is author of The Writer in the Story and Other Figurations, published in the UK by Apocalypse Press in 2003. His poetry appears in the anthology Joining Music with Reason (Waywiser Press) along with the work of thirty-three other poets, British and American, chosen by Christopher Ricks.

>> Back to Issue 18, 2015