JAMES BROWN

Amen

Men in cars, in vans, in trucks, in transit.

Men in trains, in planes, in cars (again), in large cylindrical nuclear objects.

Men under orders, under oath, under consideration, the pump.

Men at the helm, the forefront, the coalface, the head of the table.

Men at work, at play, at the ready, at the height of their natural powers.

Men on the move, the moon, the front line, the lam.

Men on top of their game, the world, spaghetti . . . all covered with cheese.

Men with attitude, with lipstick, with erectile dysfunction, seepage.

Men in the mix, the choir, the crosshairs, the direct line of fire.

Men of law, of letters, of consequence, of few words.

Men up ladders, uptight, up themselves, up shit creek without a paddle.

Clandestine men, unspoken men, unspeakable men, men who dare not speak their name.

Lollipop men, stop-go men, men dressed to impress, dead men walking.

Doormen, outdoors men, ousted men, men out of ideas.

Men online, on location, on men, on performance-enhancing drugs.

Men reading the paper, the room, between the lines, the writing on the wall.

Men in black, in uniform, incognito, in over their heads.

Men in the zone, in the red, in the red zone, in the bloody doghouse.

Men on the long-list, the short-list, the list of usual suspects.

Men between jobs, between drinks, between sheets, caught halfway.

Men without hats, without shoes, without hope or scruples, well-meaning men.

Men alone, sad men, ad men, emasculated men, men on their own islands.

Men offside, off the grid, the lunge, the hinge, the deep end.

Self-made men, sprocket men, rocket men, men who mean business.

Boss men, lost men, abandoned men, every man for himself.

Men over the top, over the hill, over and out, men overboard.

Betting men, tic-tac men, money men, men happy to take a cut.

Earthmen, spacemen, Cybermen, aliens who’ve copied the male genetic code.

Wireless men, tech guys, gamer boys, Super Mario Bros.

Jazzmen, merry men, policemen, men eager to wet their whistles.

Specimen, cyclamen, Flower Pot Men, Mr Silly.

Bogeymen, budding men, Ombudsmen, odd men out.

Laymen, legal men, inside men, men lying low.

Black men, white men, hollow men, little green men.

Rich men, poor men, beggermen, chiefs.

Gunmen, hitmen, hangmen, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Hardmen, hairy men, main men, masked men.

Mature gentlemen seeking attractive, open female (20–30) for outings, innings, cosy nights on the bearskin rug.

Tradesmen, salesmen, song-and-dance men, ringmasters.

Sidemen, wingmen, con men, fall guys.

Strongmen, straw men, clergymen, popes.

Glovemen, stickmen, batsmen, binmen. Firemen, airmen, milkmen, barmen.

Long lines of men earning their keep, respect, waiting to use the facilities.

Men falling off tackles, ladders, for stupid pranks, a bit of biffo under the horns.

Young men, middlemen, middle-aged men, men in the midmost of their youth.

Mad men, funny men, magic men, mansplainers.

Freshmen, reformed men, postmen, men of fortune.

Action men, supermen, musclemen, abdomen.

Moulded men, mounted men, menhirs, man-mountains.

Leg men, tit men, butt men, troglodytes.

Cis men, single men, married men, men of their time.

Gingerbread men, marzipan men, half-baked men needing five more minutes.

Unreconstructed men, disabled semen, abominable snowmen with big carrot noses.

Three wise men, three leaning men, three men in a boat, nine men’s morris.

X-Men, XYY men, 4x4 men, 3 men, 2 men, 1 man and his dog, Spot.

Obtuse men, amended men, recommended men, women.

Magnificent men, miraculous men, maximum men, cowboys.

Mothering men, moustachioed men, manicured men, men missing in action.

Agile men, fragile men, Argyle men, men who need mending.

Mr. Men, Minutemen, mostly men, men on the verge of something significant.

Men wondering how long this is going to go on for.

Isn’t it time for lunch?

Mingling men muttering how a man can’t mention much of anything anymore.

Mumbling men murmuring how a man don’t amount to much of anything anyway.

James Brown lives and writes in Wellington. His Selected Poems was published by Te Herenga Waka University Press in 2020. ‘Amen’ comes from Slim Volume, published in 2024 (THWUP).

Brown comments: 'A draft of "Amen" was in the outtakes of Slim Volume, but my publisher thought it should be included. I’d enjoyed writing it; I just wasn’t sure anyone would enjoy reading it. I went back into it, embracing its momentum and overkill. It already had an ending, which helped, though I added another excessively alliterative line to underscore the finale. The poem doubled in length. I wanted to include an excess of men and I wanted every line to give the reader something, be it simply a smile, surprise, groan, or breather. The lines had to hold hands with the rhythms around them to keep the flow, yet each was also its own unit with its own particular music and wordplay.

'This is a poem where you "get the idea" pretty quickly, so it’s not about what but how. If you can find fresh ways to say the already-said, and the words have some kind of music, then maybe that’s poetry.'

​Poem source details >

 

​Links

James Brown's Te Herenga Waka University Press author page

James Brown's Read NZ author page

New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre author page

‘Hindenburg’: a transcribed poem

‘Shrinking Violet’ set to music by Polite Company

‘Peculiar Julia’ set to music by Polite Company