Poems by Heikki Huotari

To The Data Driven

the elevator operator says floor please     half off the road the immune system's waving to the viral variant to go around     as of today there are two kinds of nervous systems     willows weep not just because of their poor posture     as they're carbon based my predecessors turn their pleasure makers up to ten     I tell some graduates to be obsessive and compulsive     even anecdotes are data to the data driven     extrasensory perception's wasted on the extrasensory-perceptive     one rare manuscript is handled with white gloves     I tell some tag-alongs to blame the victim     as it takes a multiple of two to tango so to rule the universe it takes a multiple of three

On The Clock

if it's not a ratio then it's not a rate of change     the pigs when greased are keeping their own counsel     does Walt Whitman contradict me     very well Walt Whitman contradicts me     there are three and one half adults in your average time machine     consider lilies but don't give the sleeping dog a second thought     the highest and the lowest scores are cut because they might be biased     have you seen the good cop and the bad cop in a room together     which of the ingredients is secret and how many purposes are served     so colorful my costume I'm a hero and I'm on the clock

The Crime Of Calculation

I'll do my part and be a witness to the systematic desecration     as one tendril to another tendril's tending so the crime of calculation to the anticrime of passion so my ribbon says PARTICIPANT and we participants are put on one leg at a time     by put on I might mean our legs are pulled     our legs are pulled through cylinders     our legs have suction cups     I have a fragile hat to sit on and a velvet pillow to wear on my head     the debits and the words of Jesus are in red     the schools of fish have rendezvous on Tuesdays     close the door in my face will you     take my blushing husband please