31 days in July

If the muse should say goodbye
may I always remember these
31 days in the month of July.

The Ninth Street Book Burning

"Ninth Street Bookstore to close March 31
Dwindling sales and high rent lead owner to close the downtown shop" (headline from the Columbia Missourian newspaper). Many of the books were burned.

Franny and Zooey
and Rabbit and Scout
run from their pages
to scream and to shout.

Gatsby and Holden
are stricken with fear
with Lenny and George
as their pages sear.

The characters run
to escape the flames,
from page to page their
future the same.

Tom and Huck Finn float
to their grave, as Jem
and Scout find safety
in Tom Sawyer's cave.

Hester Prynne weeps as
she offers great thanks
to hide with Anne and
the rest of the Franks.

Nancy finds refuge
in a hidden staircase,
as Sal and Dean drive on
with no time to waste.

Not enough books sold
to pay the high rent
readers these days are
much less frequent.

Stories and ideas
are lost and forgot,
the words disappear
along with the plots.

The shop owner cries
and slides to the floor
as the pages burn in the
the Ninth Street bookstore.

My Real Name is

My real name is Suicidal Plath
and my body
is a gold-flaked accordion
bellowing words onto
notebook pages,
writing until the music
runs out.

ENG 563 "Beat Literature"

"When the muse calls, answer!" - Allen Ginsberg

The room, I imagined, smelt warm.
The one in the short film
on the TV screen in Pummill Hall.

Thirty minutes into the first day
of class, the Jewish man
with large glasses and thick hair
was still asleep in bed.

Awakened, he rolled to the edge,
removed the cover,
and exposed his penis.

Class descriptions are often too short,
when you don't know what's Beat.

The Heneverleavesmissouri Poem

(for Richard Brautigan)

Because you never leave Missouri,
stuck in the mud,
on the banks of the Mississippi,
it's not hard to think of you
as the state map:
with your gorgeous blue eyes
in Kansas City and Saint Louis,
sticking your lobbyist nose
in the mess in Jefferson City
and your crooked smile
stretching from Springfield
to Cape Girardeau.

Dad Haiku

the name's John Lacy
the Godfather if you will
of organized crime

real life Soprano
the Supe. to the FBI
and Dad to his kids

a real family man
wears gold velvet jogging suits
hair slick with pomade

drug deals and horse heads
lights Cubans with dollar bills
cannolis and wine

dangerously calm
and no stranger to trouble
he's the last real boss

House on Division Street

She stopped suddenly, as they walked down a street in the evening, and pointed at a strange angle of white wall over battered roofs, luminous on a black sky in the glare of an old lantern, with a dark, barred window like that of a dungeon, and she whispered:
"How beautiful!"
"What's beautiful about it?" Lydia asked.
"Because it's so strange...promising...as if something could happen here..."
"Happen to whom?"
"To me."

- We the Living by Ayn Rand

The condemned, two-story house
was like an old movie screen
when police cars projected images
against its rotten siding
with their red and blue lights

and the sirens accompanied
the actors as they flickered
against its exterior
along with stray dogs,
all watching
the house across the street
burn to the ground.

French Press Coffee Versus a One Night Stand

(for Richard Brautigan)

Waking up somewhere new,
he rolls over to leave her
as she winces at his breath:
like coffee beans and hot water
they seep throughout the evening,
then go their separate ways
in the morning.

Beauty is an Automobile

Beauty is an automobile
that’s been reduced to its parts,
in a junkyard
lined with mufflers and carburetors,
guarded by vicious dogs.

Media sources
br
ea
king
women down
to their breasts, legs, and asses.

Their best qualities
sold at wholesale prices.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Savoring a brownie,
never missing a flavor,
making it last for hours,
this rare treat
brought home by her father
and shared among her siblings.

Rolling the chocolate
around her mouth
and across her teeth,
with eyes closed
she forgets to breathe

and no need for milk
it will only wash away
the taste.

Savoring words,
never missing a meaning
or a sound,
breaking them apart
and filing them in her mind
letter by letter.

Rarely borrowing books,
with the temptation
to underline or mark
amongst their pages,

and no need for another's opinion,
if it will only wash away
the feeling.

Jen, a haiku, part two

In response to "Lindsay, One Classy Lady":

Jen, a haiku, part two
(by Lindsay)

Jen-- oh, what strong faith!
in God, tea, and straightened hair
Gap shirts; stripes, solids.

but Jen can be bad
double-D's, drug convictions
Cops know her name well

"I'm at the Moxie!"
more like Dark Alleys, Dark deals
shoot-outs and street cred

Hustlin' just to live
her favorite tea? Gunpowder...
a fluke? I think not.

workin' for money
Barnes and Noble bill gets high!
tea can be costly

lots of coke, dead folks
Jen wears skirts, reads Plath, fifties stashed
between the pages

The Mudhouse

South Avenue, 323B,
where all the writers
and poets meet

where muses sit
and sip on coffee beans
and fragmented rhymes
waiting on brilliance
to show itself in the lines

Lindsay, One Classy Lady

You might have seen her
smart, intelligent and she's
witty as they come.

Loves cheese and drinks cheap
wine from a Yahtzee shaker,
one classy lady.

Goodbye over Coffee

The coffee machine was left on,
a running tap, from morning
till night, not wanting
to miss a moment
before he had to leave,

but she made sure to drink
decaf because hearts
can't always handle
the caffeine.

It's About Time

We need to move slow like a train
does when it leaves the station
because if I need to bail early
I'd prefer it if we weren't moving
at incredible speeds.

When you move in for the first kiss,
move in with no hesitation
like a child eats ice cream
on a summer day. If you wait
too long I might just melt
all over the tile floor.

And don't tell me you love me
until you really know me
because it would be a shame
if we were watching
the ten o'clock news
the night before the wedding
and you found out
I was a liberal.

Ethanol E85

Americans grow corn
to pay less at the pump,
while Africans gorge themselves
on a healthy diet
of inefficient cars
and four lane highways

Kitty

She rushed to get ready
for dinner with her date.
Her stockings were pulled high
above the length of her long white
skirt. She clasped pearls
around her neck and amethyst
stones slid across her slender fingers.
He was already waiting in the car.

She fumbled as she lost
the back of an earring,
then hurriedly looked
all over the floor,
eventually deciding
to rob Peter to pay Paul,
not wanting to leave
her lover alone in the car.

That Guy is No Good

I cushioned my words
in order to soften the blow,
but bricks still hurt
even ones placed
in pillow cases.

Blindness
is usually the first
symptom when you're
lonely and suffering
from its disease.

The Looming Shoe

Looming shoe
the one that hangs above my head
Call it indecision,
but it will eventually fall

You can't see it, but I can
It represents several things:
disappointment,
loss of interest,
and a reason to leave.

Proverbial shoe
the one I placed above my head
waiting to fall when given the sign
How about doubt,
different interests,
or directions in life

You can't see it, but I can
and it hangs above my head
eventually dropping,
giving me a reason to leave.

Another Breakup over Coffee

Your words hit my body
like shots of espresso,
forcing them quickly out
then hitting the handle
to release the steam.

The words filtered
through my thoughts
and began to percolate
into my head,
sure to leave me up
all night in bed.

Unhappy Wife's Lament

She was too embarrassed to trade
her well-thumbed romance novels
for new ones at the used bookstore.

Prom Dress Shopping with an Obese Mother

Like a dentist with bad teeth,
she told her daughter to lose some weight.

Above Average

Dinner with married couples
is often unpredictable.

The words just fell out
of his mouth
before he could stop
and think about the sounds
they would make.

Above average
looks nice on the results
of an aptitude test,
but it's not a good adjective
to use when describing
your wife.

The Fourth of July

(for e.e. cummings "red-flag and pink flag")

grocery bags and American flags
the red, white and blue
parents scream as children lag
the people with tattoos

some sit in chairs
and some sit under trees
and some sit in their cars
waiting hours just to leave

May God Bless You

How do you like your coffee, sir?
to the refugee in Lawrence
with no place to sleep.
A victim of a storm
said his cardboard sign
and a lack of love,
though that was just implied.
With lots of sugar please.

The coffee was served up
with a muffin
and a may God bless you.

Thank you, but even Jesus
had no place to rest his head.

Literature

(for William Butler Yeats "Politics")

Why is it, that boy across the table,
My eyes set
On Richard or on Updike
Or on Kurt Vonnegut?
Still here's a restless man who knows
What he writes about,
And there's a poet
That has lived and loved,
And maybe what he says is real
Of romance and how it's better,
But O that I could have noticed him
And held his hand in watermelon sugar!

Daniel

What a gentleman
He opens doors for his date
and pulls out her chair

He stops at nothing
even asks to clean her plate
nothing goes to waste

Your Mother, the Poor Soul

Well, I guess I'll take your word for it, he said.
Why do people say that?
It's like saying, I guess I have to agree
with you until I hear otherwise.

Sure, I don't know everything,
but last time I knew,
I graduated with honors
and you don't even have 15 hours.

And your mother, the poor soul,
was probably only appreciated
for her baked goods
and clean kitchen floors.

Chasing

(for Richard Brautigan)

If you will chase after me,
I will run until I've lost my breath.

And this road we're traveling on
will be like two lovers
lying together in the park.
If you will bring a blanket,
I will bring the sun.

Sylvia Plath

All my favorite authors
end up killing themselves.
Maybe that's what all good authors do.
I think I will try committing suicide,
but slowly, one day at a time.

A Pentecostal Carwash

The young girls
with over-sized t-shirts
tucked into denim
ankle-length skirts
and white socks laced
into walking shoes
lost business
to the scantily-clad cheerleaders
across the street,
who weren't afraid
to show their boobs.