Category: Poems

untitled (20170413)

crow20 Comments

hope is the thing with feathers
despair is the thing with scales

i am the watermelon man
reduced to a slick white rind
my seeds swallowed on accident
or spit into the street
for angels to pick and peck at

eli, eli, i’ve been thinking

some days the color leaches
out of everything
some days the everything
tastes of pine resin
and trail dust

eli, eli

if you swallow a watermelon seed
one will grow in your belly
and then what will you do

always feed them to the angels
with the oil slicks around their necks
rainbow nooses

i’ve been thinking

——

It’s still National Poetry Writing Month!
Day 13

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prints (20170412)

crow7 Comments

you left footprints
in the folds of my gray matter
no waves to wash them away
an eternal shore
like the moon
without air
without water
only the roar of the ocean
and the crisp
outlines of your
shoes
——

It’s National Poetry Writing Month!
Day 12

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fragments of peace (20170410)

crow26 Comments

paper mâché jesus
angel composed
entirely of dried ivy
stuck to a stone wall

jesus comes apart
during a soft drizzle
collapsing into smeared
classified ads

a dry santa ana
picks the angel apart
one leaf at a time
leaving withered veins
without blood

——

for
dVerse ~ Poets Pub
Quadrille #30: drizzle

It’s National Poetry Writing Month!
Day 10

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the scratch in the record (20170408)

crow9 Comments

the phone rings
and my words
are pressed down
stoppered between
gut and tongue

you say hello
and that you want to tell me
that you couldn’t remember
if i had received
the card

i assure you i have
and we hang up

the phone rings
and my heart
is pressed down
wedged between
sharpened bones

you say hello
and that you want to tell me
that you couldn’t remember
if i had received
the card

i assure you i have
and we hang up

the phone rings
and my throat
clamps closed
crushed under
a drunk’s forearm

you say hello
and apologize
since you know you’ve called
(didn’t i)
and that you want to tell me
that you couldn’t remember
if i had received
the card

i assure you i have
(please don’t apologize)
and we hang up

——

It’s National Poetry Writing Month!
Day 8

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gray eye (20170407)

crow15 Comments

pity the trio
of old women
with a single eye
and single tooth
among them

though they
know much that
is hidden
when the eye
rolled behind the sofa
and they could not
find the can opener
they resorted to blind
cannibalism

politely taking turns
chewing
each other
with that one tooth

——

It’s National Poetry Writing Month!
Day 7

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six views of silence (20170406)

crow5 Comments

the air doesn’t stir
or ring

you look my way
and pretend to smile
but not even a whisper
passes your lips

like dropping a pin
in a vacuum
no tinkling chime

oppressive and heavy
being mummified
wrapped in heavy wet bandages
soaked in eucalyptus
hard to breathe and move
but harder still to
want to move

your laughter is a ghost
hollow and absent and see through
and everywhere at once
and all in my head

horses spin
a sickly pantomime
the calliope
rests in ruins
scraps of metal tubes
black and white keys
broken wooden legs
discarded brass ring

——

It’s National Poetry Writing Month!
Day 6

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the meek (20170405)

crow11 Comments

black blur on red bricks
this spring day
heats up like summer
and you and your kin
warm yourselves
and scatter yourselves

i have seen more
of your brethren
in one year of heat
than in a lifetime of
cooler years
and i wonder
if this a new age
of dinosaurs

these ones will be tiny
and won’t fly
and won’t have feathers
they will have scales
and eat insects
and inherit the earth
and i hope
they are kinder to the bees

——

It’s National Poetry Writing Month!
Day 5

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meditation (20170404)

crow8 Comments

close your eyes
open the third
sulphur yellow swirl of sparks
like a limoncello candy
a galaxy dissolving in the cosmic mouth

we are all suckers
under the tongue
of a laughing buddha

you better hope

——

It’s National Poetry Writing Month!

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