The Friday Poem: Jimmy Carter’s Peanut Farm, by j. taylor bell
A novelty transistor radio and a wind-up toy, each in the shape of a peanut, satirise President Jimmy Carter’s past as a peanut farmer. (Photo: David J. & Janice L. Frent/Corbis via Getty Images)
A new poem by j. taylor bell.
Jimmy Carter’s Peanut Farm
or a perfectly intact 2-pack
of colgate max fresh patiently waiting
for no one at the gaston stop bench
whether or not there’s still radioshack
what ever happened anyway to circuit city
& when was the last time someone set foot in
the lonely alcoves of a best buy, way back
with friends in the halcyon food courts of shopping
mall subways for eight hours unbroken
or how old pancho villa sylvia plath
emmett till federico garcia lorca or robin williams
woulda coulda shoulda been
to behold the uninterpreted plaques
outside the reservation casino, in between
the gift shop and the garbage bins
the panama papers, ask jeeves, equifax
whether or not gendry is in fact still rowing
if carole baskin loved or killed her husband
or both, logan paul in japan, rebecca black
cambridge analytica, the royal wedding, big tex
the harlem shake, the ice bucket challenge
my dad liked to leave himself voice memos on a yakbak
the future-train groans forward, slow as lightning
the planet remains as connected as four, and yet
people still tend to forget
that time almost six percent of australia burned down
The Friday Poem is edited by Chris Tse. Submissions are currently closed and will open again soon.
J. Taylor Bell
j. taylor bell (he/him) is from Texas, and studied Poetry at Queen’s University Belfast, where he was the Seamus Heaney Center International Scholar of 2018-19. His first collection, HELLO CRUEL WORLD (Wendy’s Subway) will be out at the end of this year, and he'll also be starting PhD research at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia whenever it’s safe. Peep some extremely occasional twitter banter, or wave hello, @jtaylorbell1
