STATE LINES
California Poetry
Walt Whitman’s grand theory of the self proposed that we all “contain multitudes.” “My Vinyl Weighs a Ton” is Morgan Parker’s hip spin on that notion. She builds a persona that is distinctly Californian, that nods to the region’s physical and industrial features. In one moment she comes “from the grasses of California”; in another she fantastically “jetpack (s) into the heaviness alone.” The “heaviness” in that line, which is also suggested by the poem’s title, addresses the burden of maintaining a self that often feels disembodied or distracted by a whimsical imagination. And yet Parker handles this topic with a light, comical touch. The poem displays all the markings of an authentic voice and talent.
My Vinyl Weighs a Ton
Sit down shut up slip me out of my sleeve. I have come from the grasses of California. Twenty years of the dark I carry. The sun bends its back over Struggle City. It hits me first thing: I’ve never been cool. I am driving with glass eyes and lead feet. I jetpack into the heaviness alone. My bare face hanging out all over the kitchen counter. What’s largest is the ego, half animal growing near mint. I’m a rare EP strutting into the brown morning. T-shirts are a theme. The neighborhood watches. Lawn chairs tumble into liquor stores alone. The good old urban sprawl at half volume. It is literally just another day. “My Vinyl Weighs a Ton” is from “There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé” © 2017 by Morgan Parker. Reprinted with permission from Tin House Books. All rights reserved.
David Roderick is the co-founder of Left Margin LIT: A Home for the Literary Arts, in Berkeley. He is author of “Blue Colonial” and “The Americans.”