liberation
the manual said
so simple now even a housewife can do it.
Fantastic, I thought.
Let her.
***
BY NEIL BROSNAN: liberation
Confederate X
piss stains on the wizard sheet
pulled from last night’s bed
southern clown
klansman gown
fearful eyes beneath a cutout pillowcase
boo inside a bigot’s head
black Bible talk behind...
Naked
Naked Pocahontas
cartwheels between
sheaves
of meadow grass
and half truth
history
Little wanton
Matoaka
Turns twelve
Within the rough-cut
walls of sixteen eight
Tobacco men
of Jamestown
elbow through
blue smoke
pulling on
their blackened pipes
grin dirty white
to see...
wound/rană
we could have conquered cities
but we stayed behind in the dark alleys
among passionate kisses
among Earl Grey teas
we could have invented pasts
but we died as...
another cat (Franz Wright)
the heels of his poor man shoes
were each worn down
on the outside edge
and the laces were white string
knotted to where the black had broken…
he...
not even
if you don't have air make it up
if you don't have words kill yourself with them
if you have not lived revive yourself
if you don't have...
Yellow Manhattan
All night cross-town cabs
yellow black Manhattan
traveling at the speed of metered time.
Surrounded by hubbub and sound
honking their way to curb exits.
Driven by expatriated hacks
who...
red buddha
Mao attaining...
(to buddhahood)
Mao you Chairman Buddha now
fat cat china cool
Tao, your zen red book
Great leap forward
bone to throw the masses off…
seeking you in bullett...
The Number of Our Days
Your flesh was a glass chorus
of cruel sirens
who with every touch
chafed the ribbons of my fingers raw.
In your blue eyes
I notched with a yellow...
nouveau math
ridiculously narrow women
poured into black spandex
circle their own cool shadows
pencil thin
wandering free form
over the illusion of abstract leafless branches
interrupted sunlight scatters
down the edge of...
Proudly Made in America – Presidential Sexual Assault
“I did try and fuck her. She was married.
I moved on her like a bitch,
But I couldn’t get there.
And she was married.
You know I’m...
on ice
it’s difficult to know exactly
how many of them are gone
but the percentage is high
not the one’s who’ve lost their way
the fallen down, mis-directed
temporarily out...
the laughing men
oh memory
childhood illusion
behind what synapse
the aroma of smoldering autumn fire
suburban side roads
softly gauzed in smoky light
children’s saturday voices
rising from yards
family raked
weekend chored to
the status...
