Et in Arcadia ego

Poussin--
I remember

It must have been
Way back then

One spring it was poetic
I was sprightly

Dallying a way behind
Dilapidated swayback nag when

She sent my way a waft
Of her reeking

Slow ancient hind-
Quarters from what seemed half,

Nay, a whole classic pastoral
Country mile away--

I must tell you

I was genuinely
Swept away.

(First published in First Intensity #21, Fall 2006)

Pulp

curioCity kills Bloody Marys
maraschino cherries Pop guns
gang bangs poontang rat snitches
and Edsel squeals

cathouse beldams melt hams down
dog days nightmares ride hunchbacks
warning lights stop critters peeling
rubber dead in their tracks

cornered but ornery
disembodied vulvas bare back
their teeth like

the Cheshire cat.

(First published in Maverick Magazine 6/7)

Skid Row

fool-

hardy
pigeon

taking off
down

precarious
flight

of run-down
steps,

falls
hard

upon
crumb

bum on landing.

(First published in Poetry Salzburg Review #9, Spring 2006)

Cultivating the Species

Sow

Plenty of progeny,
My son--

Weed the pigweed
From the garden

When they're young.

(First published in Arabesques Review, v.2, issue 4)

Not So Scrappy Scrap Mental Man

To foundry,
To foundry,

To found
A mine pig,

Home again,
Home again,

Mind full
Of pig iron,

Jiggety-jig.