Lie of the Land

riot 
of wind leaves pine 
needles pile tossed up

rotting under 
brambles under 
which lies all matter 

of whatnot composing what- 
ever the blustering 
mind never sings truth 

fully mindful of nothing 
but trumped-up blistering 
naught. 

Lend Me Your Ears

Come round all 

You hard-of-hearing 
Stalwart comrades: Praised be 
The cicadas’ crazed 

Ear-thrumming drumming 
Anthem that in fits and starts 
Cranks into high gear 

Its deranged, fair weather song, 
For it shall stutter to a halt
Before we know it— 

That incessant, insistent rallying 
Cry that pierced our humdrum existence
All those long summers past 

Coming, going, gone. 

Huuklyeand Cinquor on Why Poets Should Always Carry Notepads

Yes, yes—I know you think 
You’re a poet but 
. 
Have you never thought 
You’re a poet only 
. 
When writing and not 
Ballyhooing in a cage before 
. 
The likes of John Q. Public 
Like a monkey in a zoo? 
. 
If not, please note such 
Knowledge helps you 
. 
Keep your mind composed, 
Off the subject and not 
. 
Going bananas if you do. 


Moderator’s comments: Hey, Huuk--no use going apeshit when all around you 'monkey see, monkey do'—write a lyric that’ll send ‘em back to the zoo.

Huuklyeand Cinquor on Conceptual Poetry*

To get to the bottom 
And fully 

Appreciate it, 
You have to 

Wade through its shallows 
Holding your nose 

And sucking in 
As many 

Fishy metaphors 
As you can 

Swallow. 

Moderator’s comment: Call me Ishmael, mate, but if you can’t see that this is a bull’s eye gaff from that grand old man of piercing wit and sure-fire aplomb aimed at those blubbering pompous purveyors of purloined poetry, you don’t know a “gaff” from a “gaffe” and it’s time to put a patch over your “good” eye, too. 

*for more edification on your way to becoming this murky body of poetry’s complete (sic) angler, go to 

https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/brief-guide-conceptual-poetry

Sleeping on It

Above the little house 
Under the giant oak, 

A rasping wintry over- 
Night rattle of leaves 

Letting go, blanketing your body, 
Your wrinkled eyebrows 

Telling 

Something there is 
In your limbs 

Your bones should know. 





 

Fate of a Nondescript Pornographic Poet

he knew all
too well 

his femmes fatales 
would find him soft 

and graphically 
bro 

ken at the end 
of one pulpy pen 

ultimate 
anticlimactic 

line after another, 
and where nothing

he laid down 

before them in vain 
glorious color 

could stop them 
from coming 

sheathed in plain 
black-and-white 

fictions again and again.

Pathetic Fallacy

Rainy day 
Bubbles bubbles bubbles 
Bubbling buoyantly 

In the gutter they call life 
Floating by—oh, 
Oh, the joy of it! 

To see how hollow 
They follow one another all 
The while going pop, pop, pop, 

Never asking why 
They leave their troubles 
For the sweet by-and-by. 


NB: Originally posted December 28, 2016 and video-updated January 9, 2017.

Huuklyeand Cinquor on Transcending a Rat Race Mentality

Forget about that “better” mouse trap— 
Even if you should 
Wake to find the trodden 
Masses beating a path to your door,

Better you turn turncoat and get out 
Of the rat race rather than looking 
Down and thinking twice 
Too many poor dead 

Vermin already infesting the floor. 



Moderator’s comments: First off, Huuk’s “baneful” attack against one of the scourges of contemporary society i.e. the “rat race,” is diluted by too much reliance on mousy soporific bromides; secondly, where “a shrill piping of plenty” is clearly called for, he gives us an overdose of black-humored trumpery; finally, one wonders if it isn’t time for him to seriously consider retiring from the poetry wars and expend what’s left of his Parnassian energy on something more constructive, say like swatting gadflies that are always bugging our flying white horse Pegasus whenever it touches down to quench its thirst at the sacred Pierian watering hole.

Introduction to Heuristics 101

In which we will examine how 
Amongst other sundry occurrences, 
The path of least resistance sweeps 
You off your feet and with the greatest 
Of ease throws you over the nearest cliff. 

Wintry Vigil

storm door knocking
in face of wind

seaman’s wife, son, daughter 
round table with mutt

under empty chair waiting 
for grace to begin. 

Generation of Vipers, Raymond, Washington, circa 1952

Reaping wheat 
Back in the old country, 
Mom was once attacked by a viper 
Whose head she crushed 
Under a rock before 
It could bite her, now had me 
As point man leading us 
Down narrow, overgrown 
Path infested with hard- 
Of-hearing innocent garter snakes, 

To our vegetable patch 
Five hundred yards behind 
The tenement house where 
You could see her crossing 
Herself and me pounding holy
Hell out of a pan so hard 
All unknown and treacherous 
New world devils would sense 
The urgency of the message 
And stay worlds, worlds away. 

Never Whipped (In The Mind's Eye) Over Aleppo

Never batting an eye 
Lash and imagining 

The battle 

Scars never heal 
If you don’t. 

Amelioration of the Sixth Extinction

Dear Dr. Paul E. Annaish, 
Blithe spirit par excellence 

In a world of encroaching 
Darkness, please note 

All of us are dying 
To read 

Your prescription 
On how to stave off 

The demise of what 
A lot of us like 

To call the light— 
But please 

Write your Rx legibly, 
We don’t want to go blindly 

Ignorant into the all- 
Knowing night. 

Black Friday Sellout

All you white 
Slaves and pimps

Of merchandise 
And other motley

Bags of whatnots,
It's bad

Enough buying 
A lie but 

What if you think 
You’ve got the goods 

On the store when 
The store knows 

You’ve been sold 
Down the river? 

Monstrous Issue

Let us learn by heart the bloodline 
Of our descent into hell— 

We are all descended from flesh-
Eating apes armed with bludgeons. 

That should start us off well. 

Justice of a Disturbing Peace

Before it all comes crashing 
Down on your stiff upper lips, 
Listen up, ladies and gentlemen— 

It’s a case of when the once outspoken, 
Wrongly defamed “rabble” are unable 
To rouse themselves from the rubble

Of the deaf-mute derelicts 
They’ve so wittingly become.