Raison D'être?

Because they are splendid 

Windbreakers, cypresses ring cemeteries— 

But that’s not the only reason 

They take our breath away.

Tenement Row Syndrome

Isn’t that where our lot turns in 

To a block of vacant stare cases?

Using Your Horse Sense

Riding a winged horse 

Sounds downright fantastic, 

Doesn't it? 

Just make sure it leads you 

To water you can drink. 

Classic Dionysian Drinking Song

So, Bacchus, old friend, 

Here we go again, staggering 

Down timeworn marble steps 

To a dank beckoning cellar— 

Let’s drink to that to no end. 

Poetry Slam in the Garden

Did you say slugfest? 

I hear that’s where you squash them summer 

Moonlighting sloggers one by one till there ain’t no 

Undisputed champion of cabbage heads left punching 

Cauliflower ears in them rutabaga leaves 

No more. 

Nada: My Own Private Idaho

Today I spent the morning writing about yesterday, 

And thought it was good I had something to say— 

The rest of the day I thought about tomorrow, 

And what I’d write about if there was no tomorrow. 

Body of Water

In his sleep, he saw 

The goddess had awakened 

On a moonlit strand— 

And was now walking on waves 

Swathed in phosphorescence 

Back to no man’s land.

Out on a Limb

Imagine loving a tree—is that so foolish? 

Look at you earthbound 

Looking up at me, caught up 

In that instant, what kind of fool 

Can you see? 

Interior Architecture

People keep asking us why 

Our house has so many windows— 

When we were designing it, 

My wife and I decided 

It would have as many windows 

On the world as necessary 

To make us feel at home inside.

Logorrhea, My Contribution to World Poetry Day

We run off at the mouth whenever we say whatever 

We put down is what we have to say and nothing’s going stop us, 

Come what may— 

Okay, bulldozers, let’s have it our way but 

What are we going to say when our treads are sinking in deep 

Shit with everybody running the opposite way? 

Ventriloquist aka Monsanto's GMO Stool Pigeon

Talk about someone throwing their voice! 

Even the head of our dummy corporation can’t tell 

Where the next rat’s coming from. 

Lonesome Pine Inn

Much too crying out loud thinking 

The reticence where 

Soon to be boxed in 

A canyon resonating 

Somewhere out there. 

Guttersnipes

Who gives a shit about your so-called catharsis, big shot? 
Whatever it is for you, for us it’s always going to be another 


One of your effluent turds gargling in our gutter.

Ball-buster Driving Last Nail in Coffin

I gotta hand it to you, stud— 

When you said your body was perfect, 

You hit the nail on the head. 

Down-to-Earth Niedecker

To be beautifully lost 
For a time takes as long 
As one finds time 

Enough to give in 
To such frivolous fancy, 
And for me that’s poetry— 

But the shine on the pendulum says 
Your time’s up, Mister, so take that 
Crock of shit back to where you found it. 

Wolfbane

Moonstruck, a banshee’s wailing—why 

Is the wind not howling 

Huddled behind my door?

Fragment of Logbook Entry, Greek Dark Ages

. . .unverified sighting of sea creature 

resembling Kraken reported. . . . . . .

. . . unintelligible spreading. . . . . . .

inkblot on surface pointing 

fingers not so rosy dawn 

crawling over edge— 

take it down!

A Penny for Your Thoughts, Your Honor

Your precious daughter, Jerri Prudence? 

She ain’t worth a plugged nickel 

No more—she done 

Hollered dirty copper after— 

Not before I robbed her cradle— 

She ain’t gonna throw no porno look at me 

No more.

An Epic, More or Less

He who hopes to grow in spirit. . . . 

will not be afraid of the destructive act: 

half the house will have to come down. 

—Cavafy, “Growing in Spirit” 

If that’s what the old man believes

Muse, keep piling on the detritus— 

Then have caterpillars tread on me, 

Mopping up the mess. 

Realtor Turned Politician Selling America

Nothing specious about 

this property 

so deceptively spacious 

and so upfront—just 

imagine you’re a midget

playing pool with an ace 

up your sleeve, a big white house 

in your ass pocket.

Elderly Immigrant in Rest Home

What more you want me to say? 

They brought me to America 

When I was not yet four— 

No memories of the motherland, 

No children no dreams left 

To even up the score. 

Curtains in Hellas

….and the winning entry in our annual 

Summer Art Imitating Nature category is

Ms. Phyllophila Ephemera’s highly original 

And bewitchingly lifelike pattern—

A myriad of houseflies captured for posterity 

On an arresting white background! 

(Applause) 

The Proprietor of the Paradise Inn

Tainted goods? My apologies 

But they weren’t always spoiled— 

They went off when 

I caught them in the pantry 

With their pants down, eating 

Rotten apples.

Chef de la Birdbrains

Merde du poulet! My mind 

On ever greater things to create,

In my jardin d'herbes I did not see

 

Under the sage that petite yellow crocus

On my way back to the kitchen— 

Mon Dieu! In my next life, please

 

Bring me back as a chicken. 

 

 

Cypresses in Eden

Because they fail to regenerate when cut back too severely, 

Cypress trees have been associated with the underworld for ages— 

They also bear small round seed cones resembling apples, 

But no one would ever be caught dead trying to eat them. 

Aram Saroyan on Huuklyeand Cinquor's Sucker Fishing in America

BLUREBS