Jake's Flea Market

Years ago, I submitted this poem to Pif Magazine for publication: They published only the first half of it. I wasn’t happy with the ending either; and for thirty years I tried to make a more satisfying ending for the poem, without success. Today, with more experience in reading and writing poems, it occurs to Continue reading

a pregnancy begins witha decision to keep a kittenone that’s left behind in the middle of a summer night in which people emptyan apartment across the sidewalkinto a single box on a pickup trucka kitten that comes in the colourof a sky pregnant with rain one that mews and scratchesclaws at the outside of the Continue reading

there’s horizon where memory beginsyesterdayi stopped at the old place on forty thirdthe house was bulldozed years agothe last traces hauled awayand yet it vaguely sitson the farthest horizoni’d point a fingerbut i know you see it toofrom here the painton the old wood siding looks crackedpeeled faded yellowedor yellow i’m not sureshow me the Continue reading

bewarethe hollow of the planet that revolveson the axis between the povertieson an old man’s shouldersit’s the oven that fills with firethen frost then again with fire the forgewhere forms the idea to steal the goldearrings from a lady’s lobesthe silver pendant from her throatand from her doublet the brassbrooches beware the ideathat becomes firm Continue reading

this is a poemit’s a litwindow in the nightnot even mom drivesout of town into the country to look in through it if she did she’d see something of mei’d tell her it’s also a door something of me comes out throughshe’d remind me i tried that once before tried to push something i thought Continue reading

as this timebetween eternity and eternity iseternity flesh stretchedacross an old man’sface in the forever before his funeralis flesh destined to becomesoil is soil are fieldsfallow that fold into and wrinkleout of the lack of vegetation in crevassesand dry creek beds in ravines through whichin july sweat tricklesask yourself if that landscape expressesinsolence watchthat country Continue reading

i’ll tell you the metaphor i’ll tell you the liethis is that there is here then is now i’ll tell you the clothingdress life up put makeup on its facecoathanger a pair of tight levis up its legs cover its asswire a bra add support to firm its sagging formbutton a blouse to accentuate the Continue reading

agricola the saxonas a silhouette against the top of the morningstrolls in a rut furrowed across the foreheadof the country away from glauchauobserves how the land faced toward daylightsod fleshed here and there skinnedwith barley crop wrinklesdown into the lines on the face in whichin april a creek swells ora stream or river flows between Continue reading

i wore itlike the beauty of the womani guided through the room under chandelierswhere the tuxedoed five- piece- bandplayed the dance with their stringswore it for the boywith his pal on the corner i wore itto lead their pointing fingersfrom west to eastwhen i cruised up third avenueand from east to westwhen i cruised back Continue reading

arch the yew wood bow in your voice and pullback the hemp bow string and the nock in the shaft of warning made of words and sharp pointedreleasewound the ambitions of that turnspit dog that malformed intruder who leans on the dining room table in the house where you are guestedwhere queen and princess or Continue reading