I remember, you were pointing a stick at the moon, It was the day before the wolf bit you. Near to that incident with the toothpick. You were with a girl who rubbed brass for a living. I remember, you had a signed edition of a box of bags and were dating an ex-nun. Around … Continue reading
God spat an ocean, shat the Alps, pissed torrents and waterfalls, God wasn’t beautiful and frightened the curly-headed kiddies and nuns. God drove by in a beat-up rust-bucket, whistling and shouting and waving a gun. God played the spoons and bummed quarters by the entrance to the liquor store. He planted timebombs in the hearts … Continue reading
growing pale and bloated they sip fast food coffee and share stories both glorious and deprecating in overalls and mesh baseball caps faded from Saturday games at midway stadium peanut oil thumbprints on the brim where they lifted them off their heads for the national anthem all but one who is smiling in his black … Continue reading
Can pick Any lock This is not A test Of Feeling At noon My shadow Seeps into the ground Like a wound The last time I looked I was still there Drunk Asleep on the porch in Omaha Each eye wrapped tight Bulging with imitation midnight. Continue reading
When I see you, I’m going to wish you a merry Christmas. I’m going to show you my hands and tell you how they used to shake. I’m going to shake when I tell you. The snow blows sideways in Cleveland. Our cat keeps track of a single flake and follows it with his eyes. … Continue reading
Robins have no red breasts, pale orange iron-poor blood, powerful perhaps when romance dawned and poets place robins in phallic phrases, pumped hormone full of summer’s heat, slowly drained through centuries into springs diluted behind closed doors and drawn drapes, when everyone sits inside and watches sunrise on TV screens. Continue reading
A friend of mine died singing Sinatra’s “My Way”. Didn’t look so autonomous to me; tubes exiting every orifice; more like a marionette, tangled up in his own strings. We work after midnight, my partner and I, when most debtors are asleep and unsuspecting. We get-around in a pale Ford Mustang, ‘PLEASE WASH ME’ written … Continue reading
Double-wide strips with space between held back the straining herd. By the strength of bunched lines they shoved. Snorting, stomping, chewing wads of pink cud with lips ajar. Swaying with complaints. Haggling to be first, or next. Anywhere, at least, in front of last. Swollen packs strayed by the trail. A few lame books. Then … Continue reading
A small crowd was gathered at the entrance of the Strand the night I went to sell my books. Word circulated that the store was closed so that Michael Jackson could shop alone for children’s books adding to the buzz. It began to drizzle but people stayed on their toes to peer over the window … Continue reading
He tells his barber to cut his hair like Steve McQueen: A little off the top, longer on the sides. It’s been one close shave after another —the jungles of Nicaragua and a scar the length of his forearm. Some Sandinista machete, he said, but the USMC medic stitched him. Then the six incher vertical … Continue reading
Coe Review 