I write from the gutter
I write from the gutter
my poems
belong in a trash fire
and even if I had the choice
to write from an ivory tower
my legs couldn’t climb it
they’d give out
at the first step

Art snobs and theater kids
Art snobs and theater kids
always rubbed me the wrong way
and I still don’t understand
90% of the poems I read in journals
even though I write them, too

beauty isn’t made
by people with an education

when a bum on the street
throws up on the sidewalk
that’s real art

If you can play
If you can play the guitar
you can make someone else happier
when they’re down on their luck
and need a good tune to keep 
them from
drowning 
in a river
of sadness

I like cheese
I like cheese
I always liked cheese
because mice eat cheese
and I’m quiet like a mouse

Mean like the grinch
Mean like the grinch
Bitter like Scrooge
Sour like Mencken
Bah
humbug

—-

Dmitriy Kogan is a short story writer, poet, and essayist from Staten Island, New York. His work has appeared in The Beatnik Cowboy, The Rye Whiskey Review, Oddball Magazine, and A Thin Slice of Anxiety.