Tag Archives: poem

WHEN

When time got reversed
the plan was
to sail backwards
across the sea
undiscovering everything

magically, one by one
things disappeared: chilies,
popcorn, burgers, chocolate,
tobacco, tomahawk missiles,
baseball, gridiron, surfing,
rap, hop hop, jazz, blues,
slavery and potatoes,
Pickett’s Chsrge
Hiroshima and
the Normandy landings

the world
becoming a bit
less fun but
remaining that
much greener

and nuclear winter at
most a crazy science fiction idea.

JUNCTURE

Rethinking poetry

my pen screeched
to a halt at the frontier
between two words
two worlds

uncertain of how to
or whether it had
the right to proceed

at which juncture
the seasons came
and went
the climate shifted

and the poem
moved of itself, springing
to life

finally allowing itself
to slip in
and out of gear.

GUESS

I guess it counts
as a comedy

albeit one
of grotesque proportions

me in my tiny cell
monk-like, drafting
page of page chockablock
full of strange improprieties

whilst the world
convinces itself
it has
to act under the imperative
of ridiculous warp and
crazy tangent

chasing that absurdly logic
punchline
where it knocks
itself out
delivering a healthy dose
of brain damage
beating up
on its own face.

TWO POEMS: FIVE; RED GLARE

FIVE

water leaks through
as is its wont

cats
do
too

are
ace infiltrators

believe they
possess a divine
right to
do so

have a signed contract
airtight, since the Ark

repeatedly I ask
my own furry frauds
to produce
such a
document

want to
see
    who betrayed his or
her own
species

signing on
that dotted line

****

RED GLARE

standing
at a Cardinal point

expecting a Hail Mary
yet you toss
me a lateral

expect me to run
through linemen
and linebackers alike

reinforcing the inkling
I keep getting, cannot
side-
step, avoid
thinking

that I am
everybody’s
designated target
chilling
   here in the red zone

no one
   (before the
crunch comes) to
have a nice placid
word with

about
    to get spangled
become rocketed red glare

AVEC PLAISIR

I accumulate
years

but what I did
accumulate
over those years

(would you
care for me to
bullet point it?)

well then,
      avec plaisir

starkness
thinness
attenuation

things I thought
as in the economic theory
mistakenly would
trickle
    down in torrents

but was
never favored a drop

too late now
to start scratching
for remedy, hunting
for redress

all
   banked and
pocketed, I am reliably
advised
    can rest assured

and where to now
everything
    end of the road with
closure of
all pathways

gates and fences
        not prepared to fall
in what is left of
my lifetime

only the ironies
remain, if
           you would like
me to
    show you in
what we still enjoy of
this window

it will be my sad sombre pleasure
to be performed
as quasi
ritual

avec plaisir.
         

AFTERMATH

I wonder
if you managed to escape
found a bunker, a hole
to hide in

or whether, like me,
your status is observed
lurking somewhere in
the shadows
yourself a shadow, like
me a shadow,

at least now finally
something in common

our thoughts, our words,
everything we are
we were
dispersed

waiting for you
to appear
talk to me
about your aftermath
(if speech
possible)

the planet still glowing
the winter soon
to blanket everything
on its way