Watch Weird Wood is a video poem filmed, written, and spoken by Mike Hazard. It was shown at and collected by the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York.
Once upon a time, I used to love tasting
the crispy skin of animals. Pig. Fish. Turkey.
Peking duck still makes my mouth water.
Scars remember, remind I used to eat myself alive.
Palimpsest of sinning and unoriginal sin,
vellum of om and um, cannibal of soul, I am.
My skin is a country of ad hoc, make-do tattoo,
a pretty pattern of stain, damaged by the sun.
Real life will forever struggle with unreeling evil.
The color of my skin is a crime scene.
Human skin burns, to protest napalm.
Eat what you kill, the singer sings, and I listen.
I listen as I've grown comfortable in my own skin.
Tasty memories, now that I am happy as a vegan.
I bite a honeycrisp and juice drips on my chin.