October - Poem 17
Go / Katerina Canyon
We sloughed bespoken
after the tree drifted.
Yellow leaves along the river
are run down.
The city settles atop your tongue
once oil has taught
the eel out of its charm
aside the morning clouds—
neglected against time.
After the bed licks your toes—
fold.
Without their delayed covering,
I see
the tree complete
its denial no more.
I wake now with the silt-dragged river
bedraggled, the wind-drifted
trees
released
and the
hot city
never
settled
how the
dwellers
praised God
when
your oil-layer
was ablaze—
cool
as the
tail of
your chin
and as
biting.
Pause / Sam Calhoun
Now I get the quiet after,
storm moving off and I breathe,
the trees shake in the downdrafts
but they breathe, even broken
they breathe—
It is not the cadence of crickets,
or the sharp trill of water
from the loose gutter, singing
against the sidewalk,
or the long distance rattle
of pileated woodpecker
who’s home building
has no off days,
even though it is summer
the cold will come soon enough,
sending us mail still postmarked
little winters—
it is the break of rhythm,
the liminal space between
small talk ends and real
conversation begins,
like the cabbage white
butterflies visiting cuttings
in the old bucket, wanting
water, both wanting blooms
I’ve trimmed, spent ends
cast to the ditch past thistle,
seed head sending spells
to the sky—
For the Preacher at my Best Friend's Funeral / at/om
Sometimes I try to tell the story of how
at my best friends funeral the
value, budget, Craigslist preacher
eulogized her to be an angel.
And I knew right then this man did not know her.
Literally in his eulogy he quoted.
How to Save a Life by the Fray
MULTIPLE lines of How to Save a Life
I can not stress enough… the entire chorus
As if we were in a Grey’s Anatomy episode.
Fighting back laughter was so hard at that moment.
even harder was knowing that she was not there to
laugh with me and she never would be again.
Where did I go wrong?
Depression Sambas in at the Fortieth Reunion / Ellen Ferguson
Depression said I’ll have one of those little steak things. Everyone wants to play Reunion Trivia Jeopardy except for Depression who’s like forget those mini grilled cheese and tomato soups forget the sliders I want something like chocolate sushi like a raw chocolate mouthfeel thing and everyone gives Depression some space and the night continues.
not really a dance
more like dancing without feet
like chocolate shoes
Untitled (variant) / Brett Gastineau
Death lurks among the fireflies
a shadow with smiling contours.
Her mouth filled with children’s teeth
and pieces of a tomb.
In her eyes a winter’s sunlight through empty branches.
I make to speak but my voice
has become a wandering part of my body.
Listen! (A shout of pain, a laugh,
the panting of a fire, a sigh tangled in roots)
There are those who touch a body and leave it graceful
but she does not practice this wonder.
She has come for my heart.
She sings and her song sprouts from my spine.
Her crazy smile blossoms as my life breaks loose.
My discomfort is her peace…
But then, no, I understand that we should
all be so lucky to taste this wicked love…
No, these are the wrong words but…
I am free of a body
that had covered my life in its strangeness
uzzlement / Joy Johnson
Puzzle meant just for me
Scrabbling brainteaser of
Mystery spells and
Spelling out what
Quandary we find
Us two in, across rooms
Predictable predicament
Fomenting pickles to
Snag and more,
Keep us apart.
Gordian knot!
Stickiest wickets of
Existence.
Yearning glitchiness,
Heart’s itchiness,
Crux of my delighting,
I poser. You alighting?
Catch me up.
WE SHOULD LEARN / H.T. Reynolds
how to play poker
from an esthetician
for nobody bluffs better
except for maybe a priest
telling us he’s holy
and we believe him
we should learn about life
from a mortician
trained to bring color back
to dead things
convincing us they’re just
sleeping and we believe them
we should learn about love
from a magician
sawing us in two behind a curtain
manifesting roses from cards
showing us they’ll always return
and we believe them
Humpty's Entropy / Gabriel Phillips
Had I a moment more of courage
Had I kept the king’s sin tart and mute
Had I shed silence and given her my name
Had I known how heavy the tongue could be
Then the knights showed me entropy
Then the wall was one and I of many
Then she finally saw me, as disorder
Then the silence became a daylight vampire
Now she hears my name in crowds of laughter
Now the sin will purchase their favor
Now the stench of breakfast falls on the square
Now the peasants wake with fork and appetite
