Shane Signorino Featured Reader on Monday, August 22, at Duff's in the C.W.E.

Shane Signorino will be one of three featured readers at the next •chance operations• reading on Monday, August 22, at Duff's, 392 North Euclid, in the Central West End.

The other featured readers will be Daniel Eberle-Mayse and Erin Wiles.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

Shane Signorino is a poet/spoken-word artist/actor/director who is currently enrolled at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville's M.A. Poetry-Writing program where he also teaches ENG 101/102. He has won numerous slam competitions in the St. Louis area, has performed with many professional theatre companies, and is working on completing his first book of poetry entitled Bughouse Bound. He dedicates this poem to his passed-on mother who continues to inform his passion for the printed word.

XIII

There are coincidences and chances from which you die laughing, and there are coincidences and chances from which you die. -- Enrique Vila-Matas

I
gotta bad luck burn needled in black on my neck's back in one forgotten roadstop shop. three-toothed tattoo artist with rough workman's hands and spaghetti western fuman moustache, dressed like a west texas cowboy who'd done his share of cattle-herding long ago, laughs: you ready to be branded, boy? boy, oh boy, am i. tilt cranking the hi-fi stereo to johnny cash moanin' through his rendition of thirteen, singin' slowly bad luck winds been blowin' at my back, i was born to bring trouble to wherever i'm at.

II
mama held midwife’s marbles and sioux indian superstitions, once handing me one silver ball medallion, first shaking it in front of my ear so i could hear the jingle jangle of tiny stars called headache charms. mama said i was cursed from birth, wrong place wrong time nursery rhyme, but this talisman could save you, son. it holds all your evil thoughts inside, chiming demons reminding you to watch your step, beware the cardinal, beware the venial, beware little white lie sins. mixing catholic, native magic, and gypsy myth.

III
stamped the bad luck familia syndrome by mama, years spent playin' endless games
of grabass with this omen monkey on my hunched over back, i quickly came to believe
mama had been onto somethin' when she warned me of crossing paths with black cats
or when she spanked me thrice for shattering her makeup mirror, or when i stumbled on my old as the hills parents mid concourse. time to walk the believer's walk straight into high-noon sun, black XIII tattoo seared into my neck flesh, leaving forever-curses behind.

IV
be careful, my boy, keep watch on that first stepping away, mama karma-whirl whispers

-- Shane Signorino

Click here to hear Shane reading XIII on Soundzine.