Kathleen Reichelt + Rich Ferguson


Florida Man



Florida man 
convicted of strangling common sense. 

Florida man 
arrested for building a meth lab 
in an Applebee’s parking lot. 

Florida man 
tattoos Bozo on his cheek 
in order to face 
his fear of clowns. 

Florida man 
apprehended for making a sex tape 
with himself 
in Taco Bell drive-thru. 

Florida man 
sentenced to life 
for trying to smuggle 
the apocalypse across state lines. 

Florida man
jailed for performing
botched and unnecessary castration surgery
on Ken doll in Walmart toy aisle.

Florida man 
caught cultivating 
the world’s smallest crop 
of marijuana 
on the head of a pin 
where angels once danced.



When Called in For Questioning



When asked about the scars around your lips, tell them you were speaking peace in a 
shattered-glass world. When asked about employment, say you are a wound collector 
on the broken frontier. As for where you reside, tell them your heart is equidistant from 
joy & suffering, the now & never, the sweet flower & the Hiroshima cloud. Regarding 
why you say the things you say, tell them the full moon is in your mouth. When asked 
about the ghosts behind your eyes, say you occasionally spend too much time thinking 
about who you are to become, rather than whom you are supposed to be. As for why some 
leave the world too soon, tell them death’s reflexes are sometimes quicker than prayer.

A Man, a Megaphone, a Lonely Room



Anyone who is allergic to intimacy or has maintained a love/hate relationship with Mr. Rogers.

Those who’ve used a weedwhacker to eliminate the dark and overgrown areas of a once-clean conscience.

Anyone who has mistakenly said “premature ejaculation” instead of “premeditated adoration.”

Those who’ve painted their mirrors black. Whose metal hip screws have set off security alarms at CVS.

All whose paychecks have evaporated like the most recent L.A. rains.

Women who’ve considered shaving their heads and joining the convent. Men who’ve considered shaving 
their heads when going bald.

Anyone who has played a six-string while using a live grenade as a guitar slide.

Those who’ve recently made a new friend or connection online or standing on line, waiting to get into 
a supermarket or hospital emergency room.

For those dying on the streets, in homes, hospices, or remote villages a world away.

For anyone whose heart is breaking. For anyone whose heart is healing.



Blueprint For a Better World



Cars will run 
on poems, prayers,
and the courage
of Sojourner Truth.

All guns 
and assault weapons 
transformed 
into high-powered Pez dispensers.
The NRA 
has changed its name 
to the NEA.

Birdhouses 
will be built 
atop gravestones. 
               
Gardens planted 
in the hearts of the lonely. 
Lightning bug halos 
for everyone.

Earthquakes, tornadoes, 
and wildfires 
take anger-management classes.
Dogs and cats 
call a lasting truce. 
Rainbows
donate their colors 
to the severely depressed. 

There’ll be 
a cross fertilization 
of dreams, free speech, 
and the almighty dollar—
a new currency we can exchange 
through liplock. 

In utopia’s dance hall, 
we’ll be non-stop 
bump and grind music;
an exhilarating hectic electric
flowing through our veins. 
When we touch radios, 
light bulbs, and guitar amps, 
they’ll come alive. 

There’ll be
dependable road signs 
along the highways
of our minds. 
Clarity and foresight 
will be dressed 
in easy-to-spot, polka-dot blazers, 
placed at every 
entrance and exit ramp
to ambivalence and obscurity. 

All mirrors 
will reflect 
our inner beauty; 
our sweet-cheeked, 
moon-eyed, 
push-button perfection. 

The very air we breathe
will never be used against us 
in the court of life.

All our burdens,
and regrets;
paragraphs of scattered thoughts.
We’ll edit one another down 
until we’re 
naked and radiant.

Our glowing bones,
the blueprint 
for a better world.




Pushcart Prize-nominated poet Rich Ferguson has shared the stage with Patti Smith, Wanda Coleman, 
Moby, and other esteemed poets and musicians. Ferguson has been selected by the National Beat Poetry 
Foundation, Inc. (NBPF), to serve as the State of California Beat Poet Laureate (Sept. 2020 to Sept. 2022). 
He is a featured performer in the film, What About Me? featuring Michael Stipe, Michael Franti, k.d. lang, 
and others. His poetry and award-winning spoken-word music videos have been widely anthologized, and he was 
a winner in Opium Magazine’s Literary Death Match, L.A. He is the author of the poetry collection, 8th & 
Agony (Punk Hostage Press), and the novel, New Jersey Me (Rare Bird Books). Ferguson’s newest poetry 
collection, Everything is Radiant Between the Hates, will be published in January 2021 by Moon Tide Press.

Kathleen Reichelt is a visual artist, writer and performer for stage and film.  Her images have been 
published in Maintenant, Paris Lit Up, Arteidolia and have been exhibited in galleries and museums internationally.  
Her work reflects an ongoing exploration of contemporary themes and forms.  With a background in Cultural Studies, 
and an ongoing pursuit of philosophy, she is compelled to communicate with the puzzles, pluralism and thinking 
that art provokes. 
 
 

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