There were cheesecake and petits fours,
{The cakes I ate on a
French ship when I was four}
The streets were all empty and cell
Phones were mute, and hand guns were kiln
Down to make strings for lutes;
A man in a homburg said “what’s
your game,” whether I was on earth
Waiting for his highness
To collect on past- due claims;
Like repo-men with earthbound wings
I’d be sent to garnish,
And seize the things sill in boxes
Like Han Solo dolls and Batman
Masks that wouldn’t fit well;
Faces that stopped grinning too soon
To tell if they scared anyone,
I’d shout it to be heard
And tap loved one’s shoulders and hope
They felt a chill– tug at their hems
To make them aware
That the game they’re playing is fixed;
Like spayed dogs or dyslexic gods
Who can chant palindromes
So their losses turn into wins;
I’d be a second-class angel
Like Clarence once mimed for
George in It’s a Wonderful life;
Like Paul Revere’s horse rode by lights
In the North Church calling;
“The reaper’s coming! The reaper’s coming!”
“The grim reaper’s coming at last!”
I’d waddle through with wings
Tied to my back all tight and cranked
Hard like Jacks-in-the-box pop out
As maniacal clowns;
I’d tap harder and mouth the lips
Pursed to warn them to get out more;
To take dolls and masks from
Minty conditions sequestered
So long to be worn to be fit
Like the days they were born.
Copyright ©: 2013
End of the poem
15 random poems
- Elegy to the Old Man Hokuju by Yosa Buson
- Motto prefixed to the Author’s first Publication by Robert Burns
- Out A-Nuttèn by William Barnes
- Disappointment by Tony Hoagland
- Lullaby by William Butler Yeats
- Михаил Кузмин – Возможно ль: скоро четверть века
- In A Cuban Garden by Sara Teasdale
- A Conversation At Dawn by Thomas Hardy
- A Carol of Harvest, for 1867 by Walt Whitman
- In Memory Of Alfred Pollexfen by William Butler Yeats
- Here by Muralidharan Mudaliar
- Николай Заболоцкий – Утренняя песня
- Spinster by Sylvia Plath
- Владимир Маяковский – Серые! К вам орем вниз мы… (РОСТА №313)
- Envoi poem – Ezra Pound poems
Some external links:
Duckduckgo.com – the alternative in the US
Quant.com – a search engine from France, and also an alternative, at least for Europe
Yandex – the Russian search engine (it’s probably the best search engine for image searches).