Todd Moore

Todd Moore - Outlaw Poet - American Hero

1937-2010

"Outlaw Poetry, basically, is a stance against academia and the writing degree establishment. Outlaw Poetry is also a stance against the politically correct in poetry. Outlaw Poetry comes along at a time when the arts in general and poetry in particular are moribund, stale, boring, cowardly, candyassed and dead." —Interview

Todd Moore at Outlaw Poetry

Saint Vitus Press & Poetry Review

Ben Smith Tribute to Todd Moore

Todd Moore Tribute at Rusty Truck

Todd Moore Tribute at Long Road

Todd Moore at Poets Corner

Review of The Riddle of the Wooden Gun

 

The Todd Moore poem is undeniably unique. His style is as recognizable as a Hemingway sentence, a Van Gogh painting, a Bukowski wise crack. His work has been published in more than a thousand poetry mags and online zines and he has had more than a hundred books and chapbooks appear since 1976. His major work is the long poem DILLINGER based on the life and times of the Depression era bandit John Dillinger. Lummox Press recently published The Riddle of the Wooden Gun, a book length section of DILLINGER. Moore’s work is as powerful as LEAVES OF GRASS, AS I LAY DYING or BLOOD MERIDIAN.

 

dillinger put

 

the ma

chine

gun in

billie’s 

lap 

leaned

across to

french 

her

caught

a long

whiff

of per

fume &

crotch

grinned

& sd

you ever

wonder

what 

these

things

dream

of

 

 

---

 

parks had

 

this little trick

of dislocating

his shoulder

he cd do

either one

but the right

was easier

& he had to be

drunk & wd

do it for ten

bucks a pop

that time he

did it for free

drinks in the

black ace i

cd hear it

crack all the

way to

the wall

later i sd how

come you

fuck yrself

up like that

he smiled sd

yeah which

wasn’t an

answer it

feels like a

quick shot of

whiskey

then a sledge

hammer way

back in the

blood

 

 

---

 

in the sink

spooked

kenny &

he whipped

out the

45 auto

& started

shooting at

anything

that moved

his first

slug rang

off por

celain his

second

knocked

the tip

off rita’s

nose &

when the

rat ducked

between

his legs he

shot off

the big toe

on his right

foot while

she was

screaming

at the pieces

of nose

bouncing

off her tits

he was

yelling

where the

fuck’s the

goddam

glue

 

 

---

 

dillinger tapped

 

the bank

president’s

face

w/the ma

chine gun

barrel

grinned

at the

sound of

metal on

meat sd

you don’t

wanna

know

what this

machine

gun will

do

 

 

---

the way

 

i write

is strictly

fuck you

no cap

ital letters

no punc

tuation

the words

jammed

together

or all

smashed

up like bro

ken glass

crushed

pop cans

& used

condoms

the ameri

can sen

tence is

either a

stutter

or a

scream

& i’m

waiting

to watch

it explode