“Common Sense”

An “Impromptu” Performance by Nick Demske

Click the arrow to listen to Nick Demske’s performance

COMMON SENSE
I didn’t think it was loaded.  But it was a kn
Ife.  So we’re both right.  I foresee
Blinding enlightenment.  I beat these children like the deadest of horsies.
The people cheer at their victory.  Peasants dan

Cing in gutters, commoners singing like so many
Semi-trucks breaking.  This is the ultra-vulgarity to those who make
The definitions.  This is cops getting shot in abnormally
Broad daylight.  I will make me beautiful if it takes

Uglying everything else; a reflect
Ion so unfamiliar you feel impolite confronting it.  I am the awestruck lex
Icographers, staring back into a nightingale.  I will beat these
Precious children back to life.  Fuck me, shit me.

Remind me what it’s like to be offended, Nick Demske.
Ah.              Already with thee. 

Nick Demske is a poet living in downtown Racine, Wisconsin, above Wilbur’s Barbeque, with his girlfriend, Angela Malone. He is a Creative Writing graduate of Carthage College (May ‘06) and a graduate of the National Outdoor Leadership School (Nov. ‘06), a program that involved 3 months of living outdoors in the Rocky Mountain wilderness. Currently, Nick is working on two manuscripts: a self-portrait sonnet sequence called “Self-titled” and a manuscript based on a character he created called “Otis Henry.” Or did Otis Henry create him?
Nick works at the Racine Public Library and is working to start several programs through it, including a youth workshop analyzing social justice through poetry and a contemporary poetry discussion group in collaboration with JavaVino, a local wine and coffee shop.
If you see Nick about town, feel free to request an impromtu poetry reading (We did). He typically only responds when called “Nicki-poo.”