#Anti-Social Media Outrage / David Garyan

poems by

David Garyan

ISBN: 9781-59948-673-4,  ~40 pages, $12

Release Date:  March 13, 2018

David Garyan received an MA and MFA from Cal State Long Beach, where he associated himself with the Stand Up Poets, and continues to do so. His previous two chapbooks were published by Main Street Rag. He is blessed to call Los Angeles his home because there is so much traffic all around; this gives the writer a convenient excuse to focus on his work, and feel good about not going anywhere.

David Garyan’s #Anti-Social Media Outrage takes us on an exploration of landscapes from New York City, Hollywood Boulevard, the wilderness, and the mind. The lean and sparse language asks readers to accompany him into new territories. His narrator shows us how to accept the “bald spots” which come with the experiences and encounters that age people as they wander. These poems are fresh with rebellion. They take the reader on a voyage that clearly maps out this revolt. —Rafael Zepeda, author of Tao Driver and Selected Poems

Wry, laconic, hyper-aware of the idiocies people slog through every day, David Garyan is a young poet who already sounds like no one else. “Don’t like me—you’ll be disappointed,” he warns in his new collection, #Anti-Social Media Outrage. Okay, I’ve been warned. Still, I’ve got to say, I really like these poems. —Charles Harper Webb, author of Brain Camp and A Million MFAs Are Not Enough

#New York City

Let’s chain smoke
automobiles near
the Hudson River’s mouth.

Honestly, I’m jealous.
Why don’t people kiss
me when my breath stinks?

Please help.
Make me a supermodel
who can eat cheeseburgers, too.

I’ll grow big like you,
and people will still love
me for being toll-taking.

Forgive me, dear; I must work overtime.
I’m chasing paper
in a city that’s losing her trees.

Hear ye, hear ye:
That’s the actor
who’s sick of pretending
to be someone else.

New York, will you know that I’ve left?
Probably not, but if I stay until you evict me,
there’s a small chance you might notice.

#Anti-Social Media Outrage

My ego is a logger
walking through Yosemite.

My heart is an account
donating to charity.

My greed is a mortician
watching soldiers being ambushed.

My empathy is a court reporter
typing dreadful testimonies.

My addiction is a moonshiner
in the 12-step program.

I’m an acting coach
for sociopaths.

I’m a color-blind artist.

I’m a police officer
that’s not color-blind.

My apathy is an ambulance driver
who obeys traffic laws in emergencies.

I sell crutches next to minefields.

My humor is the barbershop next to cancer clinics.

My irony brought democracy
to people who voted against it.

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