Archive for June, 2009

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Steeplechase, The Funny Place

Come closer my children and I’ll confess
To an abstract tale of a curious mess
Down in a cellar the floor went bust
Unsavory relics arose from the dust

My estranged friend Julius lay silent in the bed that used to convert, hey presto, into Aunt Millie’s front porch. Weapons engineers had concealed a missile launcher inside a brownstone apartment block. The building facades swiveled out and up to reveal the big gun.

I pledge thee my allegiance
America the bold
For this is my country
To have and to hold

Land of my birth, grandest on earth, it was fun to sing and the choir director Mrs. Minstril didn’t care that the lyrics were blatant nonsense. Us boys belted it out with gusto.

Smoke bomber
Snake charmer
Electric rocking chair
Lost my luggage again

Leftovers on the grand piano
We argued over the proper light
To set at the foot of the stair
Too many old lamps to choose from

Your requirements, mathematical
Philosophical, were above all nonsensical
I pointedly proved it and you
Smiled

When I ran down the hill in the dark
I always forgot to watch out
For a maniac on a sprint from the bridge

Art room walls encrusted
With layers of paint and rust
Except for a corner as yet
Unexcavated

Like when you meet someone in the swimming pool whom you haven’t seen in years and you can’t remember his name. Later you come up for breath and there it is in thick black marker on someone else’s kickboard. Coincidence? Hardly.

Recent Comments

  • Senia: It seems we have similar things on our writing mind. I enjoyed the basement ceiling metaphor, and the pacing...
  • Ryan: Thanks for the double header! I like the way “Notice” presents death, a fairly loaded subject (at...
  • Mike: This is really lovely: Through a curlicued labyrinth of impending Trains at distant stations
  • Poetry: Very nice poem.
  • PD: Love this: The carpenters made no big deal The souls of the dead still breathed I heard them whistling to me Over...

 

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