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Posts Tagged ‘Read Write Poem’

working with words

Trading in Impulses
If you were a beacon where would you sit? In the crack of a boulder, the arc of a shoulder? It’s not like a window display.
Retail’s large panes, merchandise set aside from everyday use, no want of a museum, theater curtains that gape.
Décollage shimmering a wickedly sharp plan hatched to whisper what you [...]

Surprised by Bodies

Surprised by Bodies
Tell me why the moon is always a surprise,
why the wind sells its secrets under
the guise of some shell game that dupes
meteors but never the big trees. Or maybe
I got that backwards. It is the space
travelers who flagrantly pierce an abiding code,
one that wills gravity to be pulled off center,
only to send it [...]

How to Tie a Stimulator redoux

How to Tie a Yellow Stimulator*
Attach longing to a shiny hook and wind it
back to the bend of your elbow. Tie in a small
bunch of curly hair so that the tail
is as long as the open mouth is wide. Moisten.
(Look at the wet beads and notice how they form
a tumble in your between that you’ll [...]

Dried Fruit

Dried Fruit
My pomegranates hide
Hard gems float in ruby flesh
absorbed by this body
a pouch tender to any touch
* * *
It’s all I got this week. A small poem in response to the Read Write Image Prompt. Find other responses here.
Photo credits to Nasos3 with thanks!

The Occasioned Meal

The Occasioned Meal
It wasn’t that I was in from way out of town,
(– A thousand miles? It’s nice you could come visit.)
Or that we sat around a too crowded kitchen table,
generations: Grandmother, second cousin, thirds,
tearing up to recall men gone long, all. A first.
Or that it would be the last I witnessed
Mary Nell or Willie [...]

Teh Thear-ee Ov Hatz

TEH THEAR-EE OV HATZ
It hard even 2 admit dis thear-ee ov hatz, dat 2 wer
Teh faithles wan brimmd tite-lee ovar teh eyez—
Teh featherlez an dizkreete wan, hat wif seekret koad
Dat sez, 2 spoil teh chil’ iz 2 fattuhn teh snake—
2 wear dat hat (imperfekt-lee as carowz carown) agenzt teh sun
Iz 2 bear teh runez ov [...]

A Body of Work #2

A Body of Work #2
I have Grandmother’s fingernails.
The last time I saw her hands
They were folded on top of her
Chest, unnatural, a handkerchief
Set decoration, laced and clean,
Covered whatever glue kept
Them peaceful. Concealed
Gnarled joints sculpted by pain.
The last time I held her hand
I filed her long nails so she could
Grasp a fork, a spoon, the remote
A [...]

The Invisible Hand and body checks

The Invisible Hand
Pushes levers, works the spin
Like carnies at the mall.
Bodies are blurs standing
Still or in play in ways
I could never master.
I learn by example, follow
The moves of those just
Ahead. In this room I can’t
Keep up with the boys, they
Maneuver and slam, body check
My marker, let me know whose
In charge, then smile, as if
They were [...]

stretching truth to find truth

Traveling Incognito
The bus driver drops you
Where you need to go
Not the stop you ask for.
Sometimes you start out with
Sneakers and an umbrella
And end up in heels and new
Lipstick, a shrieking black shine
Matches raven feathers, refracts
A desert highway one state past.
Sometimes you end up at your
Mother’s and argue old stories
Then sigh, resigned, at thirteen
Years again — [...]

vice versa: the self as memory

On the Bay of Three Sister Saints off the Yucatan Peninsula, January 2000
Swirls beckon, pathed around plastic
Shells. Air stings a little, sweet
Musky flavors of an old personal
Flotation device pressed against
My chest as if it were a life jacket.
Not as ripe as it could be, but old
Salted sweat, others’ pungent
Memories kayak a flat or a stormy
Caribbean [...]