Nicotine Nanny
Beside the bassinet, she’ll light her cigarette. The babies in her care have smoke rings in their hair. Sometimes near diaper rashes, you’ll even find her ashes. And baby’s first words often are simply, "please … Read more
Posts Tagged ‘poetry’
Elementary, My Dear Grammar
Abstract addition. Subversive subtraction. Rabid multiplication. Joy division. Golly geometry. Southern calculus. Recession. Principal’s officer. Superintendent hero. School board stiff. Busdriver ed. Monkey bars and grills. Chalkboard outlines. Hot lunch date. Hall Monitor and Merrimac. … Read more
Sundried
Horizon gone blank. Soap pond, floating. Forty billion mutilated filters. Haiku heaven has shortened us, pulled us with extravagant blurbs toward ruffled outskirts we poach and penetrate. O, exchequer of ecstasy, blue dot neophyte, Elvis … Read more
Charm School Bully
He slapped the smile off the face of the etiquette boy. And batted his batting eyelashes. His "Pardon me, sir" was more like a slur and always resulted in clashes. He even learned how executing … Read more
Metaphoric Nose Job
In breaking the bone of the beak, so to speak, we’re changing the shape of a life in a week. Unwrapping the bandages, please take a peek, and if you don’t like what you see, … Read more
On File
The state has assumed full control of my life, despite all my better intentions. They monitor me through computers, you see, and other more subtle inventions. The cable t.v. is looking at me, it’s one … Read more
Courteous Mallflower
She takes her picture once a week in that old photo booth. She once fell down outside of Sears and chipped a baby tooth. She buys her jeans and magazines and cigarettes all there. At … Read more
Tao of Now
Tap our phones and cramp our styles. Lock us up without fair trials. Check our luggage for nail files. We will not be cowed. Keep tabs on library books. Categorize us by looks. Sometimes kings … Read more
Good Nautical Advice From the Supreme Helmsman
“God always comes in through the side door if he bothers to show up at all ,” said the tired old grey haired bartender, one day late December, after a mild fall. “He sits on … Read more
Ghost’s Night Off
The ghost of mediocrity is out bowling for dollars. Ten pins, he wins, the counter spins, he flies around and hollers. The game is just a sidelight. He should really be asleep. But smashing wood … Read more
Men O’War
The righteous will die with the damned, a puzzle all over the land. The pieces are covered with blood. We’re working our way to the flood. The troops are well-meaning, of course, a brave and … Read more
Mate
My love for the Queen is out of check. Want to storm her castle like a knight. Call the bishop, I am sweet love’s pawn. King me in the palace of romance.
Automatic Static
Conjoined protractors measure proclivity in inverse parallels, negating the subjugated need. If only the conquerors Had similar technology, perhaps we’d not be buried in the vast electric haze. When thinking is a shock, the system … Read more
Tenuous Portent
The bait shop’s been decorated with cornstalks and old flags. Another seasonal war appears. The leaf wrencher attacks the futile pushcart vendor. The fatalistic pharmacist overpacks his capsules. Morning mists, like gray troops, storm the … Read more
Meteor Town
Showering stars are descending. Each crater creates a new park. It’s Meteor Town never ending. A literal scream after dark. O where are you now, Stephen Hawking? The bodies are outlined in chalking. Who’d guess … Read more
Shallow Dive Syndrome
I remember eating supper Off of father’s head. Shallow dive syndrome Had left his noggin Flat as a table. Even the egg rolls Wouldn’t roll off. Sometimes he’d cut his hair In checkerboard pattern, And … Read more
Expansive Teak
Please excuse My imported furniture If it shifts slightly Toward the east While we’re eating. It’s always pining For its homeland Or fighting with the china. One morning I awoke To discover two chairs Had … Read more
Cherry Idiots On Fire
There is always pastry by the water. Small wooden men tending cork boats. Hooked shadows and light knives. Another bloated body found unbuttered. A meager crowd of infidels resurfaced. Specialists and wharf rats hone their … Read more
Parse With Me, Helen
I’ve misplaced my stack of adverbs. My adjectives have all gone moldy. Nouns abound, like circus clowns. But most of my verbs are long expired. I’ve always been anti-pronoun, And prone to conjunctivitis. But I … Read more
OSTINATO
Bernard Herrmann, Bernard Herrmann, Bernard Herrmann, Wasn’t German, Wasn’t German, Wasn’t German. He grew up in New York City, New York City. And his music wasn’t pretty, was it pretty? It was Psycho. It caused … Read more