Monday, April 30, 2018

April 30th - Steamed Hams

Nine of Spades - Steamed Hams



Steamed Hams But It's An Elizabethan Sonnet

The entrance of my lord leaves me abashed
But sated soon he’ll be by luncheon grand
Ye Gods! My special roast is turned to ash
Yet yonder dive ignites a cunning plan
(musical break)
My reckless tongue declares I’ll serve steamed clams
When Chalmers comes inquiring o’er the smoke
With ostentatious plating of Steamed Hams
I misdirect him trying not to choke
My lies proliferate beneath his gaze
I use my humdrum manner as a ballast
When Chalmers sees my kitchen all ablaze
I tell him it’s Aurora Borealis
Though Seymour you strike me an offbeat man
I must declare you steam a damn good ham







Smell you jerks later!

Sunday, April 29, 2018

April 29th - Ba'al

King of Diamonds - Ba'al


The Cult of Ba’al Hammon

In Carthage they killed children
If the Romans are to be believed
Infanticide as tribute to a god
Who from wizened hands could
Birth a winter foal or smash ships  
And men to oblivion –  whose mercy
Came in mild droughts
In summer rains

In the name of Ba’al Hammon did
Learned loving parents put their children
To the knife and when completely bled
They burned the tiny bodies
Till their little ones were
No more than ash
For the offering

We may be wise not to trust the Romans or
To want to think of slaughtered babes but
Now we know how easy it can be for any
Learned loving empire to sacrifice its children
For imagined safety
In exchange for nothing
But an idea

April 28th - Parabolas

Seven of Hearts - Parabolas


The Use of Calculators

You giggle with your friends
About a raunchy program 
Someone coded and was
Passed around to almost 
Everyone’s advanced machine

Your teacher doesn’t turn around but
Clears his tired throat and tugs
The collar of his short-sleeved shirt
He wonders where there could be 
Humor in parabolas

Friday, April 27, 2018

April 27th - Black Holes

Jack of Clubs - Black Holes


Sometimes you are so crushed
By the density of your own
Mass that it seems impossible
For light to enter anywhere

But if you dive head-first into 
The Blackness you can open
Your eyes to the dazzling of
Galaxies never before seen

April 26th - The Big Bang Theory

Two of Clubs - The Big Bang Theory


The Seagull in the Auditorium 

The moment you see the gun
On the classroom desk
Lit conspicuously 
Made of papier-mâché
You can picture the teenager
Responsible for the big bang 
In the final act backstage waiting
Stomach upset bouncing knees 
Gripping their wooden plank
As if it were the most important thing
In the universe

Thursday, April 26, 2018

April 25th - The XFL

Three of Diamonds - The XFL


Ball / Control

The concept of 100 million dollars
Becomes real as soon you spend it 
Aware of growth potential but really 
Yearning for control of 
The bodies of better men
You work to take away their options
You want to be the reason that they stand

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

April 24th - Imagine Dragons

Eight of Hearts - Imagine Dragons


A gecko bolts across
Your bedroom floor and 
Suddenly you wonder what
Caused someone to
First imagine dragons

April 23rd - Twin Paradox

Jack of Diamonds - Twin Paradox


I stand still
Faster than I can comprehend
You continue buzzing l
Am in the same place but you
Keep moving while
My limbs freeze and my
Face drops you keep moving
Away and once you finally
Come back around
I am still

Monday, April 23, 2018

April 22nd - Shea Stadium

Queen of Clubs - Shea Stadium


One Moment, Shea Stadium

It still exists in sense memories
Unsubtle smells of sneakers
And Spring and hot dog water
Cigarettes and layer
Upon layer of lead paint
Aged and mixed to somehow
If by alchemy transform to
Something pleasant and profound
A carrier of old sounds - snippets 
Of Gary Glitter songs of organ music
The comforting unsettling way
Thirty-three thousand voices can 
Disappear and chant as one
And then of course
My grandmother’s voice

I can hear her now 
As I softly pound my fist against
My kitchen wall and I pretend
That this is really orange plastic
Cool and smooth and tensile
That I am testing how it bends
Watching how it moves against
My tiny fist



Sunday, April 22, 2018

April 21st - Rick Santorum

Two of Hearts - Rick Santorum


Google “What is Santorum”

If you personified your leading hit
You couldn’t be more full of shit

Friday, April 20, 2018

April 20th - All Dead, All Dead

Four of Spades - All Dead, All Dead



Seven-Year Glitch

You are already dead
According to some iffy science
Due to evanescent cells
The You who made your memories
Is mostly long-dissolved
Withal the afterimage lingers

You and the others
All of the beloved others
All dead
Some new

April 19th - Obits

Five of Spades - Obits


Alumni Magazine Death Notes

Flipping to the very back the moment
It arrives I read and without breathing
Re-read every name 
Exhaling 
Only when completely certain 
Your name isn’t there

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

April 18th - The Hubble Telescope

Jack of Hearts - The Hubble Telescope


The Ultra-Deep Field

Then again
Time can also be a flat canvas
With an incalculable level of detail
Which you linger on and puzzle over
And fall in love with and get 
Angry about as you trace your fingers
Along the brushwork maybe 
You marvel at the technique and when 
You’re finally ready to take a step away
The composition overwhelms you with its
Thirteen billion points of light


Tuesday, April 17, 2018

April 17th - Time and Space


Two for the price of one -
 
Black Joker - Time
Red Joker - Space
 
 
Time

"I need some time"
You say but you are
Wrong

It is impossible to need 
Time - for time is
Only an illusion
I remind you at a
Slightly louder volume 
Than the din around us
And you realize once again
Just what you've started

Time
(I pause for effect) 
Is an Illusion
You may try to grasp its
Steadfast hands
But with your touch
They crumble into -
(I talk while chewing) 
Sand - You 
Cannot do but contemplate
The cruel mirage that is its
E’er determined face for 
Time 
(I mix my metaphors) 
Is a Closed Circle
Wherein taking time to 
Move yourself away from me
You are in turn - in reality - 
Closer to this moment
And to me
Than you were in the first place
(Let me finish)
Time
Is - at the very least - a Spiral
A great Nautilus! The shell
Of a sempiternal snail
On which you may try and
Trace your life along a line
But if you dare look back
Unfortunate Eurydice
The line will curve
And all at once you'll see
Your past your future
Flowing inexorably toward - 
(I choke on my grilled cheese)

You look away from me
And stab your food 
And sigh
"Yeah...
I need some time"

-

Space

When I say I need
Some space I don't
Mean just from you but
Also from the ground
Beneath my feet the
Cells of my skin
My bones

Monday, April 16, 2018

April 16th - Dead Friends

Four of Hearts - Dead Friends


Yesterday I saw your face
Only from the side but it was
Enough to petrify my insides
To drop them shattering
On the tiles of some arbitrary café
I had entered on a whim but
Now which had been sanctified a holy place
My hands shaking at the impossibility
Not breathing but alive
Coffee splashing and burning me
And there it was – your profile
Unchanged by years
More than a decade now
In my peripheral
I caught you mouthing a song you never knew
I was afraid to really look
At you knowing
You would disappear but
Forcing breath and resurrecting
Your name finally back to
My tongue
I did look at you
And once again swallowed your name
Because of course it couldn’t be
Your face

Sunday, April 15, 2018

April 15th - The Noguchi Museum

Queen of Diamonds - The Noguchi Museum


Unseasonable April, Noguchi Museum

Cold afternoon breeze
Bears the scent of flowers and
Voices of the stones

Saturday, April 14, 2018

April 14th - Steven Universe

Nine of Diamonds - Steven Universe

Love does not conquer all things
There will always be despair
And death

But still
The light in your belly
Has the potential to save 
Everyone

April 13th - Republicans In Name Only

Three of Spades - Republicans in Name Only

For the sake of liberty
You raise your voice
In public spaces
Denouncing those in power
And their overreaching hands

But when called upon
To lead -  to share
The toil and the burdens
You throw your own hands in the air
And clamor for a king

Thursday, April 12, 2018

April 12th - Chain Smokers

Eight of Clubs - Chain Smokers


I light another
Off the burning end
Losing finite units of time
In exchange for watching
Another precious handful
Of profiles pass

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

April 11th - Lines

Ace of Diamonds - Lines


e.g. “My Name is Jonas”

A single phrase will knock you
Right off of time’s track
Momentarily 
Recalling some long-gone April
The Sun and the smell of mulch
The line from a song
You once knew completely
And then
As your engine rights itself
Progressing forward once again you
Hum what you remember

April 10th - Orbits

Five of Hearts - Orbits

Tidal Locking

You move away from me
To set the stage for your returning

Or do you only come around
So you can leave again?

I know better than to question that
Which can be balanced by equation

Nonetheless in every phase 
I always see your face

Monday, April 09, 2018

April 9th - Apocalyptic Dreams

Three of Clubs - Apocalyptic Dreams*

Waves III

I see it grow on the horizon
Nebulous then unmistakable
A churning rising darkness
The beach is always peaceful
There's always time

Placed on some higher ground by dreamers' logic
Atop a distant sandy hill I think of everyone below
Their bathing suits and bright umbrellas
Sunning and smiling when water
Ripples past my shoes - and then recedes

Still gaping at the rising darkness
I shake you out of sleep
Frenzied, spitting, pleading
"When the great wave finally crashes
Tell me there will still always be time"


*not quite tweet length

Sunday, April 08, 2018

April 8th - Coded Language

Five of Clubs - Coded Language

11th Grade, Period 2, Day 104

Another endless morning
Spent together waiting
For another bell to ring

You speak to me
In dots and dashes
Your fingers on my knee

Saturday, April 07, 2018

April 7th - Lucky Numbers

Seven of Clubs - Lucky Numbers

Exceptions, Chinese Takeaway

You don't believe in
What you can't explain but

Still you crack a cookie every
Time and mouth aloud

The hidden phrase as though it
Spoke out just to you then

Place it gently in your purse like
It could be a living thing

You always play the lucky numbers

April 6th - Overload Cookies

Ten of Spades - Overload Cookies

Sleepover Years

Another night of laughing
- Uncontrollably -
Thanks to public access TV
And lack of sleep
And the sugar
From two separate cookies
Bonded together

Thursday, April 05, 2018

April 5th - Spirals

Ace of Spades - Spirals

Spring ends - the old snail
Returns to its hollow now
Filled with empty shells

Wednesday, April 04, 2018

April 4th - Over The Garden Wall


Nine of Clubs - Over The Garden Wall


If you haven't see this show before, I strongly suggest you buy it or binge it on Hulu ASAP.


Everything is Nice and Fine (all the time)

Surveying our manicured lawn
We wince at the sight of
A single patch of brown grass

But as babes in the wood
Shivering and manic
All the world is green

Tuesday, April 03, 2018

April 3rd - Points

Ace of Clubs - Points


You do your best
To avoid jammed fingers
An injured heart, skinned
Knees

But past a certain point
You can die
From chicken pox

April 2nd - Twenty-One Pilots

Eight of Spades - Twenty-One Pilots

Another Tuesday Morning, Flyin' High

Still sober after four whiskys
At this faded Teterboro bar
Outside waiting for some man

Once starched, now crumpled
A nameless man - another
With restless steady hands

I watch the waning moon
Cigarette in my red mouth
Waiting for a light

Sunday, April 01, 2018

April 1st - Dead Dogs

Four of Diamonds - Dead Dogs

Sammie II

You return
Soft as you were
When I first knew you
And here again

You kiss my hands
Time folds on itself
It seems - as I again
Look into your eyes

Your empty eyes

-

Inspiration:



 photo B0733D42-9C37-473A-AC35-8760126513C6.jpeg

Saturday, March 31, 2018

National Poetry Month 2018

Dear Readers,

It's that time of year again.

For the ninth year running I will be writing a poem a day for April - as it has been arbitrarily designated "National Poetry Month". I stole the idea for this project from Jon Berger, whose prolific output is always an inspiration.

The first incarnation was in 2010, so if the apocryphal idea about our cells regenerating every seven years is to be believed, I am an entirely different person than I was when I started this project. I'll leave it up to you to decide if that's a good thing.

All poems this April will be tweet-length, because even if time is an illusion it is a rare commodity these days.

The rules:

- I have compiled a list of 54 prompts, each assigned to a different playing card

- In the morning I draw a card to select a prompt

- I write a poem on that prompt that contains 280 or less characters

- By the end of the day I post it here (but not on Twitter because fuck those guys)

The complete list is below:


2CThe Big Bang Theory
2DSandy Hook Truthers
2HRick Santorum's Nonsense
2SThe Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer
3CApocalyptic Visions
3DThe XFL
3HDesnudas
3SRepublicans in Name Only
4CDead Leaves
4DDead Dogs
4HDead Friends
4SAll Dead, All Dead
5CCoded Language
5DStatue at Lee Circle
5HOrbits
5SObits
6CFyre Festival
6DWoodstock '99
6HBen & Jerry's Free Cone Day
6SThe Hindenburg
7CLucky Numbers
7DWild Cards
7HParabolas
7SRafts
8CChain Smokers
8DOne Republic
8HImagine Dragons
8STwenty-One Pilots
9COver The Garden Wall
9DSteven Universe
9HHelium
9SSteamed Hams
10COverload Cookies
10DMagic Cards
10HThe Cube
10SYellow Rat Bastard
JCBlack Holes
JDTwin Theory
JHThe Hubble Telescope
JSThe Space Force
QCThe Lemon Ice King of Corona
QDThe Noguchi Museum
QHSunnyside
QSShea Stadium
KCInnana
KDBa'al
KHOrpheus and Eurydice
KSScylla and Charybdis
ACPoints
ADLines
AHCircles
ASSpirals
JokerBlackSpace
JokerRedTime

Thanks for reading friends, acquaintances, secret admirers, secret scorners, lost loves, bored hackers, lonely bots, and people who opened this link by mistake.

Poem #1 will be posted here sometime tomorrow. In the meantime, happy National Clam on the Half Shell Day!

- Z