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...
dilettante-ism
splattered rabbit
early a.m.
remnant scarlet
on the double yellow line
inside out
pulseless in a heartbeat
Goodyear revolution
of whitewall rubber
triple ply tread
sporting a brand new snazzy
zig zag pelt
bunny coat
back...
mercy
Broken man, your fists, two blue sphinx
curled atop a frayed wool blanket
guarding what wastes beneath.
And still, that ruthless countenance
remembered from childhood…
your brute face
eyeing me...
homage to fried shoes*
bum feet
street-beat wise
sunk in banged up shoes
previously
dumpster swiped
lean
hobo soled
holed
haloed
covered in foot funk
sock stink
grime
no blue suede shoes
snappy tassel loafers…
gamy high-top sneakers here
retro Corso’s
weary
worn down
creased
re-knotted
raced in
hiked
trod...
the light whose darkness is light
sweltering August afternoon
Rene Lazare
bare foot, bare chested
in a leather smock
tied over ragged jeans
feverishly manipulates pigments
bent over an old barn’s floor
mixing tube squeezed oils
pressing and...
Paradise
thrumming chit-chit sprinklers hum
mistaken for operatic crickets
trilling lazy resort air
as wrinkled splayed foot reptiles
bow iguana heads like regal buddhists
slowly roaming nirvana
crossing thached pagodas
unconscious tourists...
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...
promise
swirling banner
wind whipped
color coded
a field of stars
a row of stripes
remembering when
freedom
found a country
to plant its perfect flag upon
made a promise
we pledge with our hearts
to...
last rite
Sunday Christian radio
Jesus on every other station
the frequency of God
stero summoned
sermoned into farmland and suburbia
I avoid
content for now
with Lady Ga Ga
as I blow past
a...
liberation
the manual said
so simple now even a housewife can do it.
Fantastic, I thought.
Let her.
***
BY NEIL BROSNAN: liberation