KaRL dEaN: 'Operation Paperclip' and 'A Rendition of Mona Lisa by Banksy' Interview

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MEET THE POET: KARL DEAN

By Katherine Preza Leonor

kaRL dEaN (he/him) based in Los Angeles, California, has been writing since he was seven years old. His lifelong passion for poetry was inspired by the vision of a moth trapped in a cobweb through a crack in a cellar wall. Since then, he has not stopped writing. He has had the honor of being published in Tears of Fire Anthology, the Lawrence Journal World, Alien Buddha Press, and most recently, the October 2024 issue of Adelaide Literary Magazine, in which he was a finalist in their yearly poetry competition. His first collection of poetry, Nepenthe debuted in 2018, published by Spartan Press. His poem A Vanishing Glance will be featured in Los Angeles Poet Society’s upcoming anthology Coatl Tecpatl: No More Stolen Relatives, and his poem The Second Coming will also be featured in the Society’s anthology Nostalgia, Los Angeles. He is currently  working on several new collections. The poems we will be focusing and referring to today are Operation Paperclip, A Vanishing Glance, The Second Coming, and A Rendition of Mona Lisa by Banksy. The poems imbedded under the interview will be Operation Paperclip and A Rendition of Mona Lisa by Banksy. His social media handle is [INSTAGRAM]: karldeanphoetry. 

I met kaRL at the Beach Writers Conference at USC for the Community Literature Initiative program this June as a part of the Los Angeles Poet Society team. I can only speak highly of him and the brilliant work he pitched to us that sunny, but windy day. Each one of his poems was a window to his soul and his musicality allowed me to feel his vibe and have a deeper appreciation for the topics discussed in his poems such as A Rendition of Mona Lisa by Banksy. He should definitely be your next read if you haven’t read his work already. We at Los Angeles Poet Society are happy and humbled to have had the offer of our interview accepted by dEaN. 

With that being said, my first question was: How would you describe your writing and who is your target audience?

dEaN: My words weave between the abstract and the concrete, hop-scotching through wordplay. I desire to capture time in both nostalgia and the moment, with the hope to uplift the world.

Pop Culture references throughout A Rendition of Mona Lisa by Banksy really put me, as a reader, in a space of nostalgia and tranquility because everything flowed seamlessly. The puns and wordplay were extremely brilliant and witty at times, it made me go back to reread to truly appreciate dEaN's penmanship.

PREZA LEONOR: What are your genres of preference?

dEaN: I am known to bounce from the Beats to the Beastie Boys, then finding myself with the gritty fingernails crawling through The Doors of a Bob Dylan soundtrack in hopes to revive the ghost of Arthur Rimbaud.

PREZA LEONOR: If you were to highlight one piece of work, which one would it be and why? 

dEaN: my lady malady, or a chipped ceramic (From CLI Collection). They are both raw with genuine emotions, capturing a true lust of self and hope.

dEaN is currently looking for a home for his CLI collection. dEaN is open to publishing his works in the form of a chapbook.

PREZA LEONOR: What does your process look like? Many people experience writer's block, how do you overcome this? 

dEaN: In order to avoid writer's block, I stay active in current events, and I render paintings. I prefer my poetry to come from any source of inspiration, being a simple conversation, to reading, biographies to newspaper clippings.

PREZA LEONOR:What are some themes that are relevant throughout your manuscript?

dEaN: Self Preservation and Love. Travel. Place. War. Music.

PREZA LEONOR: What are some social justice issues you write about and are actively involved in?

dEaN:  I prefer a peaceful world, so what has been slowly gurgling out of our existence, most recently especially, is gutting and needs gutted from society.

Interested in hearing more from kaRL dEaN? You can find him on Instagram as [@karldeanphoetry].

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Operation Paperclip by kaRL dEaN

these streets

crawling in distress

and dis•ease

the madness being unmasked

the homeless, for reasons unbeknownst

the invalids & the disabled & 

those fired from this greed

these streets 'starving,

hysterical, naked'*

in wheelchair despair

bleeding chalk lines

filling gutters with debris 

citizens & seniors being 

gutted from their realities

being forcefully thrust

into these god awful streets

pushing shopping carts 

full of recycle cans & clothes

...look me in the eyes and say

america is a great country

in this very moment...

when we are turning into 

a third world third wheel

full on firestone blowout 

in a red light sale close out

threatening lawyers & judges

signing executive orders

demanding segregation

inciting discrimination 

across an entire nation 

blaming the world for 

his own consternation 

defiling veterans in

massive corruption 

deporting immigrants 

when his carnival of fools

are the real criminals

arresting protestors while

speech has lost its freedom

banning books & education 

banning women's rights & abortion 

banning minorities to succeed 

still stuck in your Jim Crow bigotry

so much guilt for centuries 

stealing land from the native breed

a bloodied soil in its infertile seed

now let's collectively 

march into these streets

and rectify our plights 

gentrify our spites

from the slave ships to civil rights 

in a not so distant past

we are still having to grasp 

in the 21st century, aghast!

there is no longer a land ho alas

tourists will now take a pass…

port to a more welcoming caste

these streets are being filled

with desperation and grief

this new world order oligarchy 

at our very nation's feet

the dude, the coup, 

his entire fucking crew 

needs ousted, curb stomped 

into oblivion, into defeat

tossed into the filthy streets

'these swine have murdered 

the myth of American decency'*

             :d i s c l a i m e r:

if you survive this administration 

you are entitled to compensation

* Allen Ginsberg Howl 

• Hunter S. Thompson letter to a journalist

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A Rendition of Mona Lisa by Banksy by kaRL dEaN

a Wolfgang of Ludwig 

plucking the pearls

Edward Francis Hutton

hitting all the buttons

creating Wall Street

& Times Square

W  E  L  L...

let's make the economy swell

when we hear the morning bell

on the third rail wailing 

Coltrane kept a rolling 

all night longing

Blood On The Tracks

in midSummer Swelter 

sequestered hacks

the rubix cube

in Orwelian war

the cubic square

Fellini is at the door

greeting the Edgar

Allan Poets &

a Bukowski whore

along the timeline

of a Warholian 

Basquiat hieroglyph

Houdini tutors knot

headed hipsters 

escaping night shifts

sharing the couch 

with Bob Dylan Thomas

to crash upon

sleeping next

to a Hunter S.

Thompson

typewriter

slipping into

dreams of Kerouac 

& Moriarty & Ginsberg

Ferlinghetti is lighting cities 

in Hughes of Langston

& Baraka & Angelou

with an Amanda Gorman poem 

on the front page news 

Tom Waits is waiting

in the DB Cooper wings

by a fireplace somewhere 

otherworldly hidden far away

with a car wrecked fender

a 68 Thunderbird without wings

& a voice beckoning 

Anthony Bourdain 

from the grave

to cook an Immaculate Feast 

of Friends, Alive She Cried

Waiting For Me, Outside..

feeding the hunger strike

with Eddie Vedder

at Wrigley Field Seventh 

Inning Stretching into

a commercial break

after Mickey dismantled

his balls across the rail yards

into Marilyn Monroe

Brian Wilson outlives a

strumming a Charles Manson

guitar while Leonard Cohen

sings Hallelujah 

in homage to his

homeland in

reprimand

while the whole 

world watches

and sings along

to the true colors

of a rubix cube

in robust recluse….

WHEN WILL THE

WHEATIES BOX HEROS

SAVE THE MILK CARTON KIDS

this society, we will

never solve,

or be resolved 

until we invite either

Inspector Clouseau

or Watson & surely

Sherlock Holmes

but WAIT!!!!

let’s board the Puget Soundgarden 

into a Nirvana 

unplugged

can you hear Etta James

singing "I'd rather go blind?"

can you see

Emily Dickinson 

in the distant past

screaming "I am

Nobody, Who Are You?"

EE is Cummings

up the wretched path

carrying his fate

in search for a

Rupi Kaur heart  

& Tupac Shakur,

still alive & well, with

The Last Poets 

& Carlton Ridenhour

marching up the hill

in these New York 

City Pigeon Streets

wearing an Atticus mask

chanting in unison

with Gil Scott-Heron

"Fight The Power" &

"The Revolution Will

Not Be Televised"!!!

ending in an encore 

w/ A Tribe Called Quest

blaring "We Got The Jazz"

"We Got The Jazzzzzz"...

This poem may or may not

have been inspired by the

late great MCA Adam Yauch

…and what about 

that god awful banana 

strapped in duct tape

let's watch it turn brown

& disintegrate 

what is art? 

Tolstoy tells it best…