Patrick Roche – Hocus Pocus [Video]

By Button Poetry

Get Patrick’s book, A SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE BREAKDOWN: http://bit.ly/rochebreakdown
Become a Member for exclusive perks and videos: https://bit.ly/ButtonMember
Patrick Roche, performing “Hocus Pocus”

About Button:

Button Poetry is committed to developing a coherent and effective system of production, distribution, promotion and fundraising for spoken word and performance poetry.

We seek to showcase the power and diversity of voices in our community. By encouraging and broadcasting the best and brightest performance poets of today, we hope to broaden poetry’s audience, to expand its reach and develop a greater level of cultural appreciation for the art form.

Transcript provided by YouTube (unedited)

0:04
i
0:05
love hocus pocus right the 90s halloween
0:08
movie with
0:08
bette midler sarah jessica parker and
0:10
kathy najimy as salem witches
0:13
as a child watching the sanderson
0:14
sisters consume their victims
0:17
everyone would joke that i would never
0:19
have to worry about that
0:21
the joke being that no one would want to
0:22
eat me because i’m too
0:24
thin i resisted the urge to
0:28
say oh my god okay so
0:32
like the witches weren’t actually eating
0:34
anything they were just sucking
0:35
the energy out of children to maintain
0:37
their youth like
0:39
were you paying attention at all
0:42
instead i laughed proud that someone
0:46
noticed how little space i can take up
0:49
no one prods too much when you’re all
0:51
magic and party trick
0:53
watch how much i can suck in my stomach
0:55
you can count every one of my ribs and
0:56
my vertebrae i bet you can fit your hand
0:58
around my whole arm
0:59
this body the best show in town
1:04
it’s so easy to tell someone you forgot
1:06
to eat breakfast if you were it the
1:08
right way
1:08
i’ve learned every trick how to hide the
1:11
dark magic and only show
1:12
the cape and confetti watch me
1:15
regurgitate
1:16
handkerchief after handkerchief watch me
1:19
swallow fire
1:20
and swords and nothing else
1:24
i weighed myself every day conjured
1:27
excuses for meals buried food
1:29
in the garbage can down the drain in the
1:32
napkin
1:32
the sleight of hand was the hardest part
1:34
to master
1:36
i learned the telltale signs of
1:37
disordered eating as a teenager but
1:40
as far as i could tell boys don’t get
1:43
that kind of sick
1:44
no one told me they could we didn’t have
1:46
a name for that but
1:48
haven’t people always been mystified by
1:51
the nameless
1:52
the unknown what we don’t understand
1:54
haven’t we always called that
1:55
magic what is more witchcraft than the
1:58
way this body keeps moving forward even
2:01
when i put nothing into it
2:03
even when my hair falls out in the
2:04
shower even when this body tells me
2:06
every day it is dying
2:08
but trudges still i mean what an
2:10
abomination
2:11
how should i name this this dead thing i
2:14
call a body or body i call it a dead
2:16
thing buried
2:17
day after day if i if i start
2:21
robbing my own grave begin a slow
2:23
resurrection
2:24
slice into the chicken breast instead of
2:26
my silhouette and swallow it all does
2:28
that count
2:30
would it make any difference what do you
2:31
call a body that
2:33
can’t hold anything not even itself
2:37
but still tries to live is it a phoenix
2:41
or uh undead is it a a rebirth or just
2:45
trying to make a zombie walk with the
2:46
living
2:47
i tried eating regularly i always gave
2:50
up after a few days i assumed
2:53
this body was a lost cause too much
2:55
torch
2:56
and rot decaying taxidermy mounted on
2:58
the wall
2:59
rusted fossil ready for museum or
3:03
morgue or freak show
3:06
step right up keep your eyes peeled
3:09
you just might witness the greatest
3:11
disappearing act you’ve ever seen
3:14
look it’s happening
3:19
right now

—

This post was previously published on YouTube.

***

You Might Also Like These From The Good Men Project

Compliments Men Want to Hear More Often

Relationships Aren’t Easy, But They’re Worth It

The One Thing Men Want More Than Sex

..A Man’s Kiss Tells You Everything

—

Photo credit: Shutterstock