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...
conception of surrender
see how softly he whimpers now
as the needle that fills him
with kisses, weeps
a concoction of sincerity
cut with compromise
tarnished silver
teaspoon of grief
erasing every meaning
whispering in...
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...
epiphany
The poet who holds fire in his hand
trembles
knows the scent of his own
seared flesh
writhes as the blackened
didgets bubble and seethe
feasts his eyes
on the urgent...
expired meter of dreams
drenched in city dawn
a tarnished dime
stares heads up
empty eyed
stuck on a crimson clot
late night bar fight
spilled into the street
fists then bullets
screeching tires
crumpled body in...
asicanine (a call to dogs)
lavender leashed dog
festooned in a yellow slicker
overly wrapped in man
little rubber booties yukked with mud
rhinestone collared
Oh! how I wish you would
bury the bones
from that...
contemplation at dawn
I only saw your breasts
asleep
aromatic
asymmetric
I sniffed around
and I forgot
to remember myself
(contemplation at dawn )
îți vedeam numai sînii
adormiți
aromați
asimetrici
amușinam
și uitam
mă uitam
(o contemplare în zori)
***
By PUIU JIPA:...
s_a_v_t_o_ train
insatiable appetite
eats everything
kidneys
heartbeats
dreams
devours without end
flies under the radar
of patriotic flags
revolutionary anthems
licks mouths dry
where lipstick once gave beauty reign
leaves rictus grins
on exhausted faces
runs fat hands...
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...
your name in the bamboo grove
once
deep in green bamboo
the swaying stalks
thick with delicate leaves
joined their lofty spires
high above our heads
conflicting sun
shattering its urgency
into blinding streamers
tendriling down
torquing between the wind
swayed...
trinity
koi pond fish
papaya hued
glows like burning coal
a drawn out ember
orange under blue
skinned water
swims through tree limbs
kissing robins
flying in fallen sky
floating beneath my eyes
where
for a...
Stray
for Era Kever
I stepped out stray
on those
cracked streets
South Harlem
in the summer night
Black looks
in shadow
Death gliding
on the air
I didn’t see you there
They were fighting
on one...
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...
The revolutionist
hunted down
they found him in an open field
riddled with scraps of poetry
half thought out verse
set in awkward measure
broken mouth
dammed with thwarted doves
fingers crushed
stained with...
