Displaced Diva in Soiled
Second Hand Salvation Army Gowns
All the surrealistic nights
she stands waiting for a
muscian's cue, arms stretched
out as the swan lake queen,
prima ballerina in white
gowns, a displaced diva
of a mad Italian opera, heroine
who leaps from parapets to
an untimely death, paramour
missing and presumed dead,
the godless suitor in full
pursuit of her virtue.
Looking up she seems
bent by an awkward pain,
standing on the wind-swept
stage as desolate as a lunar
landscape bereft of rain,
a place for waiting for what
never comes: godot or his
henchmen, it makes no difference.
The brooch pinned to her chest
is the third eye mystics use
for seeing inside other worlds,
tranforming this one into
a hostile place of dread land-
scaping, a burnt umber sky
scorched by residues left by
bruning flowers: classic roses,
hybrid orchids, forsythia.
Pickup Artist
Maybe it was
the dead giveaway
folder for second
anniversary down
town reading or
maybe it was
something more
sinister like an
invisible to me,
Pick On This Person,
glow in the dark
sign on my forehead
or maybe it was
the dragging them in
from miles around
super strength
weirdness magnet
working at full
force that placed
the heavily madeup
redhead in tight skirt
and fuck me pumps
next to me so trans-
parently not a woman
but faking it anyway,
trying out all the best
at-the-poetry-reading
pickup lines known to
man, woman or beast;
it wasn't quite as
spectacular as the featured
reader but a close second.
Flaming Armadillo
His greased monkey
shine t-shirt sd.,
PYROTECHNICS,
& it appeared as if
he'd been sleeping in
one of those burn barrels
for hazardous waste
or maybe just manning
the post that started
the flame& had become
so enraptured with his
work that he forgot to
stand back behind that yellow
caution line or maybe he
was on the way to an audition
for some heavy metal band as
a drummer with a name
like SPINAL TAP;
whatever his story was,
it became appraent that if
he started rubbing his hands
together better stand back
as odds were he was going
to spontaneously combust.
Human Garbage
In tha bar
she says,
"I'll do a
doubleheader
around the
world
Pull a train
whatever it
takes
I don't want
anything special
in return-
just treat me
nice the next
day, maybe
some lunch,
a walk
almost like some
friends, you know
like a date
All I ask is
you don't dump
me by the side
of the road
like so much
human garbage"
They might not
even have thought
of dumping her except
she put the thought
in their heads
Took her home
for a change of clothes;
as soon as she stepped
out of the car they drove off
like bats out of hell,
laughing their freaking
heads off
A Red Neck's Dilemma
He didn't know
what was worse:
the convenience store
girl with the pink Do
with green & blue
highlighting
or
that she was the cashier
he always had to go to
for his stuff once he realized
she was the only one who
worked there who knew
how things worked, knew
how to get him the hell out
of there & fast
Fast Freddy
was the name
he ski jumped
under, a dare-
devil of almost
legendary renown
who was undeterred
by bad weather
conditions, minor
injuries such as
a broken wrist
or two, sprained
ankles, what the
hell? was the Madman
of Lake Placid
when he was
younger, a going
downhill artist
tending bar off-
season, drinking
hard & fast &
long into the night,
always a wild woman
by his side. After
20 years of working
out of town venues
& who knew what
else, he looked afflicted,
as if striken: a stroke?
maybe, Bell's Plasy?
who knew? His words
slurred, right side
facial features drawn,
even his eyes
elongated, constantly
tearing. When asked
what happend all he
would say is, "I fell."
leaving you to fill in
the huge missing blanks.
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