Bob Heman
Bob Heman lives in Brooklyn where he constructs collages and writes mostly prose poems and very small poems. His words have been translated into Spanish, Arabic, Farsi, Italian and Hungarian, and have been published on every continent except Antarctica.
His most recent books include The House of Grand Farewells (Luna Bisonte Prods, 2019), The Number 5 Is Always Suspect [collaborations with Cindy Hochman] (Presa Press, 2019), Cone Transformed (Poets Wear Prada, 2021), As If (self-published, 2018), and Acts of Innuendo (self-published, 2016).
His e-books Demographics, or, The Hats They Are Allowed to Wear (2009), and How It All Began (2007), are available as free downloads from Quale Press.
His art includes collages, ink drawings, and “participatory cut-out multiples on paper.” During the late 1970s he was an artist-in residence at The Brooklyn Museum.
Since the early 1970s he has edited CLWN WR (formerly Clown War).
[these pieces first appeared in Otoliths, Caliban online, First Literary Review—East, Uut Poetry, and Right Hand Pointing, and in the brochure Bears Repeating- these pieces copyright ©by Bob Heman]
Two books from Quale Press that can be downloaded for free:
Demographics, or, the Hats They Are Allowed to Wear
http://www.quale.com/Demographics_BH.html
How It All Began
INFORMATION
The bears belong to all of us. Sometimes we change them into ostriches for our amusement. At
other times we give them cars so they can drive through the forest and scare the frogs. The
secret of course is that the bears are really afraid of the frogs. They know that a single frog kiss
can change them forever into men like us, men restless and bored, and searching always for any
distraction they can claim from the animals that always surround them.
INFORMATION
In 1934 the bears were replaced with a penguin and an ant. In 1952 the line was doubled in
length. In 1967 the color red was added.
INFORMATION
There were several ways to build birds. Only one of them used an egg, and that was the egg of a
lizard.
INFORMATION
At night the streets cross more frequently.
INFORMATION
"Coney Island" is only sometimes the answer. At other times the answer is "iguana" or "Warren
G. Harding."
INFORMATION
Washing the wings of the dragonflies is nothing at all like washing the wings of the angels. It’s
not just the color and texture that differs, but the light that rubs off on your hands.
INFORMATION
Confuses Adam and Eve with Dick and Jane. Confuses Santa Claus with god, and the tree with a
loving uncle. Confuses the sky with the ocean they are afraid to wade in. Confuses the fingers
they count on with the explanation for goulash.
