Okay, so I’m at this party? And this guy, okay, this guy says, “Let’s write surrealist poems.” He goes, like, “We each take a piece of paper, and write down a made-up title for a poem that hasn’t been written yet, fold the paper so our title doesn’t show, and pass the paper to the person next to us. We each write a new title on the paper, fold it, and pass it on. We do that three times. Then we unfold the paper we have and write a poem to go with each title. Each poem must have exactly ten words in it. Not ten syllables, ten words.” So, like, we did.

*
January 2006

Gray Day in January

Sky, slush, river–
Your eyes.
January thaws before that gray.
*
February 2006

I Always Hated Psychologists

Then I met you.
You make me feel so Jung.
*
March 2006

Phantasm

Is it real?
Does that matter?
I live with it.
*
April 2006

Wild Grapes

My hair is vine,
is leaf.
Green are my eyes.
*
May 2006

All of the Tasty Foods of the World Rolled Into a Tiny Little Ball the Size of a State

Taste and state
are anagrams.
Tiny? NY is IT.
*
June 2006

Introspecticides

With deep enough thought
I can exterminate
what bugs me.
*
July 2006

Weasels Ruined My Holiday

Furry bastards!
Where are my Polaroids?
My toes? My fingers?
*
August 2006

Centripetal

Flying outwards,
unraveling into the universe
like human cotton candy.
*
September 2006

The Nosebleed that Exposed Me for What I Really Am…

…soaked my handkerchief blue.
All knelt before
the true king.
*
October 2006

A Day at the Garbage Dump

This! and this!
Look at this!
I celebrate treasure trove.
*
November 2006

Koi Pond

Reflection of a face
looking past the fish
remembering — reflecting
*
AND — SPECIAL GUEST POEM BY THE GUY AT THE PARTY

Sweeping Someone Else’s Steps

by Raúl Jara
It is advisable
to also use
someone else’s broom
*
December 2006

Because I Have No Secret

I will never have
a way cool backstory
on Lost
*
AND FINALLY — ANOTHER SPECIAL GUEST POEM
THE BEST SURREALIST POEM EVER!

And This Time I Thought Up Two Really Good Titles

by Sarai Allen
But unfortunately I didn’t
Think up two really good
Poems