Bob Heman
Bob Heman edits CLWN WR. His “Information" pieces have appeared in many publications including Sentence, Otoliths, Mad Hatters' Review, Ditch, Fell Swoop, and Clockwise Cat, and are included in the 2009 anthology, An Introduction to the Prose Poem, published by Firewheel Editions. Two collections of his earlier prose poems are available as free downloads from Quale Press. During the late 1970s he was an artist-in-residence at The Brooklyn Museum.
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INFORMATION
Has to use a word he does not know to change the forest. Has to repeat it each time an animal approaches. Has to think it has meaning or else it will not work.
INFORMATION
Trains replaced with flowers when the story is retold. The man replaced with a basket of fish. The hand only a sign that stood at the crossroads. Its fingers bent to resemble snails.
INFORMATION
They are birds only the first time. They are only trees when they are rearranged. The cars hide behind the trees each time the bears approach. When the bears’ stuffing is removed they become suits we all can wear.
INFORMATION
The man standing on the platform is not alone in his mind. The woman who sees him does not notice him at all. Once they are counted they can not be accounted for. The explanation requires that they be animals or clouds.
INFORMATION
Understood only what she was not told. Understood only what she had not seen. Understood god because he had never spoken to her. Understood the explanations because they were not real.
INFORMATION
The horse was only important in the first poem. Its skin was used to carry the maiden to the fire. They said her cries sounded like the cries of a horse. Only a few of them had ever seen her real skin.
INFORMATION
Believes the truth is subjective. That the man is confused. That the woman can be made to speak.
INFORMATION
Has a father he does not remember having. Has a mother who is different than who she was. Has a dog that never had a name. Has a house that is only an outline on the forest floor.
INFORMATION
The tree too green. The sky broken in places. The car dragged from one house to another.
INFORMATION
Most of the time there was a door and a man or woman who hid behind it. The words they were taught were not yet useful but still they tried to remember them.
INFORMATION
There were always birds. They looked like the diagrams but their motors were worn out. They had to be carried everywhere. They could no longer be filled with distance.
INFORMATION
In the forest the bears act differently. In the forest the man’s hat crawls away while he sleeps. In the forest the women have numbers that are only assumed. They chase the clouds or the clouds chase them.
INFORMATION
Uses the bear for a boat and the garden for a brain. Uses the sky to write with when there are no trees. Uses the little cars as shoes when shoes are required.
INFORMATION
This is how the tree grows: glass and aardvarks and small clouds. This is how the road corrects them: a car with bears attached. This is why they were repeated: a single word split in half. This was what they heard: dirt, only the dirt.
INFORMATION
The adjectives hide desires that are not normally spoken. The verbs can be caught once they are understood. Only the nouns are used each time. They hide out of sight waiting for their identities to be revealed.
Has to use a word he does not know to change the forest. Has to repeat it each time an animal approaches. Has to think it has meaning or else it will not work.
INFORMATION
Trains replaced with flowers when the story is retold. The man replaced with a basket of fish. The hand only a sign that stood at the crossroads. Its fingers bent to resemble snails.
INFORMATION
They are birds only the first time. They are only trees when they are rearranged. The cars hide behind the trees each time the bears approach. When the bears’ stuffing is removed they become suits we all can wear.
INFORMATION
The man standing on the platform is not alone in his mind. The woman who sees him does not notice him at all. Once they are counted they can not be accounted for. The explanation requires that they be animals or clouds.
INFORMATION
Understood only what she was not told. Understood only what she had not seen. Understood god because he had never spoken to her. Understood the explanations because they were not real.
INFORMATION
The horse was only important in the first poem. Its skin was used to carry the maiden to the fire. They said her cries sounded like the cries of a horse. Only a few of them had ever seen her real skin.
INFORMATION
Believes the truth is subjective. That the man is confused. That the woman can be made to speak.
INFORMATION
Has a father he does not remember having. Has a mother who is different than who she was. Has a dog that never had a name. Has a house that is only an outline on the forest floor.
INFORMATION
The tree too green. The sky broken in places. The car dragged from one house to another.
INFORMATION
Most of the time there was a door and a man or woman who hid behind it. The words they were taught were not yet useful but still they tried to remember them.
INFORMATION
There were always birds. They looked like the diagrams but their motors were worn out. They had to be carried everywhere. They could no longer be filled with distance.
INFORMATION
In the forest the bears act differently. In the forest the man’s hat crawls away while he sleeps. In the forest the women have numbers that are only assumed. They chase the clouds or the clouds chase them.
INFORMATION
Uses the bear for a boat and the garden for a brain. Uses the sky to write with when there are no trees. Uses the little cars as shoes when shoes are required.
INFORMATION
This is how the tree grows: glass and aardvarks and small clouds. This is how the road corrects them: a car with bears attached. This is why they were repeated: a single word split in half. This was what they heard: dirt, only the dirt.
INFORMATION
The adjectives hide desires that are not normally spoken. The verbs can be caught once they are understood. Only the nouns are used each time. They hide out of sight waiting for their identities to be revealed.
Bob Heman edits CLWN WR. His “Information" pieces have appeared in many publications including Sentence, Otoliths, Mad Hatters' Review, Ditch, Fell Swoop, and Clockwise Cat, and are included in the 2009 anthology, An Introduction to the Prose Poem, published by Firewheel Editions. Two collections of his earlier prose poems are available as free downloads from Quale Press. During the late 1970s he was an artist-in-residence at The Brooklyn Museum.
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