I was going to tell you about last week’s porn shoot in LA but then this came up.
Up until the release of this newest issue of Vice I had no idea that my amigro/pro skater, Olly Todd, wrote poetry.
As I sat enjoying Olly’s words I started to wonder to myself, “What other great skater has tried their hand at poetry? Who was it? I know Mike V had a few books, but there was someone else. Someone who was less successful at it. Hmmm. Who?”
So I went to my bookshelf and began to search. It took a while to locate, mostly because of my shite method of organizing my bookshelf, but there it was, sandwiched between The Ultimate Guide to Anal Sex for Women and Dr. Suess Goes to War… Do the Distance by former pro and Deluxe frontman, Jim Thiebaud. Published by High Speed Productions back in 1991, when Jim still had a ponytail, Do The Distance is a real coming-of-age tome full of teenage angst and aggression stinking of San Francisco’s Castro district. To try and explain it is unfair to the words. Instead I’ll reprint a few here and even go ahead and read some of Jim’s finest pieces….
(I APOLOGIZE FOR THE ALL CAPS IN THE TEXT BUT SEEMS JIM HIT THE CAPS LOCK BUTTON WHEN HE WROTE THESE NEARLY 20 YEARS AGO. THAT’S HOW ANGRY HE WAS.)
ALL AT ONCE
OVERLOAD
ALWAYS FEELING LOADED
TOO MUCH AT ONCE
ALWAYS THINKING
HATING
HATING THE ALWAYS THINKING
TRYING TO FOCUS DOWN
TO PICK ONE
AND CONFUSION OVERWHELMS
ENVELOPS
SURROUNDS
GRABS AND HOLDS
PULLS DOWN
I AM TOO MUCH
SIMULTANEOUSLY
THE PINATA
THE BAT
THE CROWD
I’M CHEERING
AS I STRIKE MYSELF
SMASHED UP
RELIEVED TO FALL FROM THE ROPE
FALLING TO THE GROUND
AGAIN
SPILLING OUT ALL OVER THE PLACE
AGAIN.
THE FIX
THE MORE BULLETS THAT CONNECT WITH YOU,
THE STRONGER YOU BECOME
THE MORE TIMES YOU PICK YOURSELF UP
THE MORE YOU’LL BE STANDING UP
THE MORE THEY TELL YOU WHAT’S RIGHT
AND WRONG,
THE CLEARER YOU START TO SEE THEM
TRANSPARENT
THE LIES, THE RULES, THE SHIT,
TRANSPARENT
SOMETIMES IT’S REWARDING TO JUST SIT BACK
SIT BACK AND TAKE IT
TAKE ALL THAT THEY HAVE TO GIVE
DIGEST IT
LIVE WITH IT FOR A WHILE
LEARN ABOUT IT AND FEEL THE RAGE
HOLD IT IN
USE IT INTERNALLY
ABUSE THE FUCK OUT OF IT.
LET IT MAKE YOU STRONGER
MAKE IT MAKE YOU STRONGER.
MAKE IT MAKE YOU STRONGER.
SUCK OUT ALL THE POWER THEY INSTILLED IN IT.
THEN WHEN IT’S ALL GONE,
AND USED UP,
START LOOKING FOR YOUR NEXT fiX.
“One” by Jim (right-click the title to download each of these or just listen to them below)
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“On Fire” by Jim
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PS: Here’s Jim’s twitter. twitter.com/jimt43
CHRIS NIERATKO
For more Chris, go to chrisnieratko.com.
Tags: bad poetry, Chris Nieratko, forgotten faggotry, jim thiebaud, poetry, Skateboarding, Skinema
