13.
I Swear to God
sometimes it seems like
the goddamn cynics and nihilists
and various other strains of nattering
nay-sayers of hopeless negativism are right,
that nothing really matters
in the grand scale of things,
that there’s no real meaning to anything,
as in nothing you do can really mean
or change or add up to something greater
than just a lumpy sum of parts.
Or, at least that’s the line of (quasi) reasoning
I use, occasionally, to justify and / or excuse
those days that come along every now and then,
when you wake up around ten or eleven
and maybe it’s grey and raining
and thundering out there, or,
better yet, one of those quaint,
postcard perfect / phone book cover photo
of a perfect spring day kind of days;
either way, probably best to spend
the better part of it in bed (just to be safe),
the shades pulled down most of the way,
some solo Monk or Red Garland on the radio,
a box fan blowing out a rough accompaniment
from the corner and nothing to do
but drink beer and write poems (maybe even
one about drinking beer and writing poems)
in bed all day.
~Jason Ryberg~
*
12.
Bird in the Rain
Cloud
banks
that look
strangely like
early 20th
century socialist sculpture
have pretty much laid claim to the day, and the trees are
having an animated discussion with the wind,
sending what’s left of their
leaves to
scatter in every direction, and so far it’s been
one of those mornings where my mind
is hopping ‘round from
puddle to
puddle
like
a
bird
in
the rain.
~Jason Ryberg~
*
11.
Bird, HomelessThe arborists have come
to chop down two crabapple trees
wedged among the maples,
whose canopies and roots
have tyrannized the garden for years.
Mourning her loss, a female robin,
who just this spring had guarded
three blue eggs on her crabtree
perch sheltering the nest, is upset.
Perhaps she heard the buzz saw
growl, ready to hack away
the fragile twigs that etched
their own elegy on a twilit sky.
Her branch has vanished, and,
checking my curbside mailbox,
I hear her flapping, feel the edge
of an angry wing on my cheek
as she dives at me, seeking her sentinel
post, which has disappeared into eternity.
She tucks her panic under a wing,
chirping her dolor into the spring air
that used to be sweet.
~Donna Pucciani~
*
10.
Colossus, Revisited
For Emma Lazarus
Give me your tired, your poor…
Lady Liberty holds a torch in one hand,
a tablet in the other, inscribed July 4, 1776,
when men in powdered wigs signed
a document now shredded by those
who are not tired, or poor, or huddled,
except on a golf course.
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore ….
My grandfather Carlo arrived in steerage,
not on a rich man’s yacht, in 1903,
with only his carpenter’s tools and the shirt
on his back, white sleeves rolled up,
ready for work, a word unknown
to the moneyed classes. He didn’t know
a golf ball from a bocce ball.
Like the biblical Lazarus, whose shroud
unwound him into life, Emma reveals us
to ourselves, shows us what kind of country
we are, what we will become,
and what will become of us.
I lift my lamp beside
the golden door.
~Donna Pucciani~
The Poets Consider Death
Featured in a recent anthology on age,
we confer tonight via computer
as the coral sun sags in the western sky
and a gusty wind captures branches
in backyards from Chicago to Cheyenne.
Faces, sophisticated or frowsy,
subtly wrinkled or creased
like an old bed-sheet, prepare to read
versed pronouncements
on widowhood, sudden tragedy,
or the inexplicable prospect of non-being.
Sonnets and sestinas weave stanzas
together like Rackham’s fairies at play
or witticisms at the Mad Hatter’s tea party.
The tongues of poets seduce the Reaper,
confronting his ubiquitous scythe
with syllables of prophecy,
beyond dark humor about taxes
or the deep drama of Hamlet’s soliloquy.
Afterwards, we all click off computers
in darkening offices and bedrooms
all over America, as one by one
we welcome the gathering, wordless dark.
~Donna Pucciani~
ON A THEME FROM WAGNER
I told many lies in the Covent Garden Opera House.
—Richard Wagner
(Quoted in Alex Ross, Wagnerism)
The opera house tells many sharp lies.
Later, after curtain, voices bleed downstage.
The next audience loses them in the lights.
Girls dressed as dolls and boys in tight new ties,
enter by twos, told they’re the proper age
for opera houses. They lick up sharp lies
that cling to old horsehair seats. Children’s eyes
notice it all. Then, at a certain age,
that aria comes back—notes like loose lights
tickle back those untruths. Then someone’s wife
gets hurt. No reason, police say—just rage.
An opera program’s open and cold lies—
just clues that get missed, like dull sets that fly
to darkness. They vanish into a cage
of ropes the audience loses to light.
There’s no crew here to make a curtain rise.
Everything stays blocked—her body. The stage—
A house opera composed of sharp lies.
The audience leaves. No music. No lights.
NOWHERE NEWS
It climbed out a nowhere then turned back
before light found it, burning it with fear.
Too much reality hurt and cold facts
couldn’t be climbed, so nowhere called it back
and held it. Whispered—shush, it won’t attack
another like you. Just stay close, near
this nowhere. Don’t climb out. Never look back.
Light won’t hurt you. The burning’s hope, not fear.
~Joshua Walker~
Father Figure
The day I slugged my father was forgettable, as I recall.
I must’ve done what a thoughtless boy does—
to someone—or to something.
Or perhaps I did nothing—
and that… was the sin.
I heard his heavy steps,
stomping down the hall,
toward my tiny space.
Closing in—
another beating from loving dad.
Crashing through the door,
thick fingers stabbed my puny chest.
His lips peppered foamy spit.
Untethered, my robot fist punched him
square in his fleshy jaw.
Bulging eyes and gaping mouth,
he dropped like a spent puppet.
Shame-wrapped, I stumbled back.
He pummeled on to my pretend tears
in our circus bear dance.
I feared, in that moment,
the tiny crab-apple would one day fall
at the foot of the hoary tree.
We knew no better…
I still grieve.
~SJ Harrold~
*
Being a Fly
It must be hell to be a fly.
Think about it.
Life begins as a wriggly maggot
swaddled in steaming cow dung,
gorging on bovine waste,
then collapsing into a food coma,
emerging… a pupa.
Precious days are slumbered away—
dreams of soaring with eagles.
When awakened,
the pupae crawl out of the excrement,
to unveil shiny forewings
and flit off,
yearning to leave their mark.
Having skipped adolescence,
there’s much a fly should’ve learned
in fly school,
had there been such a thing—
avoiding flypaper parties,
not preening on flat walls—
lessons learned the hard way.
When the thrill of flight wanes,
the fly is shocked to learn
it must vomit on its food—
else it starves.
Another lesson missed in fly school—
had there been such a thing.
The resentful fly might long to be
a flesh tormentor,
like its green-headed cousin.
Though it consoles itself, knowing
it sows pestilence everywhere it lands,
and rocks showy reflexes,
when not gorging filth.
Alas, the end will come,
far too soon for the poor fly.
An unpleasant demise?
Afraid so.
Smeared on a windshield, arachnid-sucked, or worse,
wings plucked by a monstrous boy.
All inglorious ways to punch a ticket.
So next time pesky muscids
land on Aunt Flo’s potato salad,
remember they were once larval lords
reigning over fecal kingdoms.
As adults, they took to the wind,
living their pitiable days
in less time than Flo’s cycle.
They incessantly buzz about,
taking what they please,
leaving nothing but stomach acid.
The miserable fly merits a swift reckoning.
Roll the towel, strike true,
and send the wretch to fly paradise…
—don’t squish the mayo.
~SJ Harrold~
AND THAT WAS THE NIGHT
The rain washed away the perverts
tweakers in the park roamed around
and stole money from the elderly.
Black boots stomped on the pavement
white socks pulled to ankles, knife between strings.
Breeze blew onto buzzed hair
keys dangled from a skinny wrist.
Tattooed arms flipped an empty garbage can.
A fight broke out by the stairway,
punches hit against soft skin
Teeth knocked out of a shiny golden mouth
blood spilled out juicy red lips
he took out his phone
and recorded a video.
A rooting crowd circled around,
clapping and cheering on the brawl.
Silver sharp knife split a stomach open,
worms slithered out a bleeding heart
and the water peeled a wet banana.
The fire sprung and rose into the streets
teary eyed ladies howled, called the police
and that was the night creativity began.
~Maceo Nightingale~
*
EYE IN THE SKY BLINKED RED
The train roared underground
employees chatted on the platform edge
drank lit up coffee cups.
Red eyed rats coughed out tracking devices
glass doors slid open,
crowd of cyberjocks
boarded the subway.
Steam razzled into the city
hot dogs served after hours
construction workers hammered
away the glitching advertisement screens
selling discounts on marijuana dreams.
insomniac zombies paid for coffee.
She wore gray headphones
and stared at the blue graffiti
sprayed onto the underground walls.
Static clicked, metro tickets swiped.
Late night musicians played their
synths in return for credit card chips.
Gamers sat hunched over computers
drinking caffeine till the morning sings
barista with purple hair called out in a name
she shrugged and poured a drink.
Vaporwave soared out of the speakers
Bass
hummed
low,
cocaine
served
upstairs.
Living
off
broccoli
and
protein bar
Pigeons gathered by the station,
pocket full of breadcrumbs
apples munched by silver teeth
Crunching
video game
tokens
Dancing
in a
pink
suit.
~Maceo Nightingale~
BEDROOM LAMP
Glass shattered onto a fat red nose
the neighbor in 4B danced naked
in the street,
thick legs grooving to harp strings.
Melodies flicked through cocaine
chords plucked on a sleepless night.
Aliens crawled out of a phone,
neon eyes poked through the screen
little legs twitched and leaked purple juice
feedback sang out of abandoned malls
night vision goggles hung up on a burning car.
Blackjack hands on surveillance cameras
paranoid babies, diapers of cow milk
and the blue lesbian wigs lost anonymity.
Firework explosions cracked open the soda bottle.
Eyes blazed in blue smoke, ears sniffed red tomato sauce.
Same sex marriage on a tennis court
swung the wooden racket at California
and stuffed the prop 8 sign
into the trunk of the car.
Mask on, gun reloaded,
One eyed twitch for a rang bell.
~Maceo Nightingale~
For Emma Lazarus
Give me your tired, your poor…
Lady Liberty holds a torch in one hand,
a tablet in the other, inscribed July 4, 1776,
when men in powdered wigs signed
a document now shredded by those
who are not tired, or poor, or huddled,
except on a golf course.
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore ….
My grandfather Carlo arrived in steerage,
not on a rich man’s yacht, in 1903,
with only his carpenter’s tools and the shirt
on his back, white sleeves rolled up,
ready for work, a word unknown
to the moneyed classes. He didn’t know
a golf ball from a bocce ball.
Like the biblical Lazarus, whose shroud
unwound him into life, Emma reveals us
to ourselves, shows us what kind of country
we are, what we will become,
and what will become of us.
I lift my lamp beside
the golden door.
~Donna Pucciani~
*
9.
The Poets Consider Death
Featured in a recent anthology on age,
we confer tonight via computer
as the coral sun sags in the western sky
and a gusty wind captures branches
in backyards from Chicago to Cheyenne.
Faces, sophisticated or frowsy,
subtly wrinkled or creased
like an old bed-sheet, prepare to read
versed pronouncements
on widowhood, sudden tragedy,
or the inexplicable prospect of non-being.
Sonnets and sestinas weave stanzas
together like Rackham’s fairies at play
or witticisms at the Mad Hatter’s tea party.
The tongues of poets seduce the Reaper,
confronting his ubiquitous scythe
with syllables of prophecy,
beyond dark humor about taxes
or the deep drama of Hamlet’s soliloquy.
Afterwards, we all click off computers
in darkening offices and bedrooms
all over America, as one by one
we welcome the gathering, wordless dark.
~Donna Pucciani~
*
8.
ON A THEME FROM WAGNER
I told many lies in the Covent Garden Opera House.
—Richard Wagner
(Quoted in Alex Ross, Wagnerism)
The opera house tells many sharp lies.
Later, after curtain, voices bleed downstage.
The next audience loses them in the lights.
Girls dressed as dolls and boys in tight new ties,
enter by twos, told they’re the proper age
for opera houses. They lick up sharp lies
that cling to old horsehair seats. Children’s eyes
notice it all. Then, at a certain age,
that aria comes back—notes like loose lights
tickle back those untruths. Then someone’s wife
gets hurt. No reason, police say—just rage.
An opera program’s open and cold lies—
just clues that get missed, like dull sets that fly
to darkness. They vanish into a cage
of ropes the audience loses to light.
There’s no crew here to make a curtain rise.
Everything stays blocked—her body. The stage—
A house opera composed of sharp lies.
The audience leaves. No music. No lights.
*
7.
NOWHERE NEWS
It climbed out a nowhere then turned back
before light found it, burning it with fear.
Too much reality hurt and cold facts
couldn’t be climbed, so nowhere called it back
and held it. Whispered—shush, it won’t attack
another like you. Just stay close, near
this nowhere. Don’t climb out. Never look back.
Light won’t hurt you. The burning’s hope, not fear.
6.
“Wristwatch
Grave”
I buried time beneath my
bed,
A twitching watch in blood
and dust
Its tiny hands still
ticking red,
Like guilt that moves
because it must.
The years rot slow in mason
jars
Beside the songs I shot on
sight,
A broken lamp, a childhood
scar,
A lullaby I set alight.
You ask if I believe in
grace
I grin like someone wired
with sin.
I’ve memorized its velvet
face;
It always looked like
discipline.
And faith? A chain of rust
and rain
~Joshua Walker~
*
5.
Father Figure
The day I slugged my father was forgettable, as I recall.
I must’ve done what a thoughtless boy does—
to someone—or to something.
Or perhaps I did nothing—
and that… was the sin.
I heard his heavy steps,
stomping down the hall,
toward my tiny space.
Closing in—
another beating from loving dad.
Crashing through the door,
thick fingers stabbed my puny chest.
His lips peppered foamy spit.
Untethered, my robot fist punched him
square in his fleshy jaw.
Bulging eyes and gaping mouth,
he dropped like a spent puppet.
Shame-wrapped, I stumbled back.
He pummeled on to my pretend tears
in our circus bear dance.
I feared, in that moment,
the tiny crab-apple would one day fall
at the foot of the hoary tree.
We knew no better…
I still grieve.
~SJ Harrold~
*
4.
Being a Fly
It must be hell to be a fly.
Think about it.
Life begins as a wriggly maggot
swaddled in steaming cow dung,
gorging on bovine waste,
then collapsing into a food coma,
emerging… a pupa.
Precious days are slumbered away—
dreams of soaring with eagles.
When awakened,
the pupae crawl out of the excrement,
to unveil shiny forewings
and flit off,
yearning to leave their mark.
Having skipped adolescence,
there’s much a fly should’ve learned
in fly school,
had there been such a thing—
avoiding flypaper parties,
not preening on flat walls—
lessons learned the hard way.
When the thrill of flight wanes,
the fly is shocked to learn
it must vomit on its food—
else it starves.
Another lesson missed in fly school—
had there been such a thing.
The resentful fly might long to be
a flesh tormentor,
like its green-headed cousin.
Though it consoles itself, knowing
it sows pestilence everywhere it lands,
and rocks showy reflexes,
when not gorging filth.
Alas, the end will come,
far too soon for the poor fly.
An unpleasant demise?
Afraid so.
Smeared on a windshield, arachnid-sucked, or worse,
wings plucked by a monstrous boy.
All inglorious ways to punch a ticket.
So next time pesky muscids
land on Aunt Flo’s potato salad,
remember they were once larval lords
reigning over fecal kingdoms.
As adults, they took to the wind,
living their pitiable days
in less time than Flo’s cycle.
They incessantly buzz about,
taking what they please,
leaving nothing but stomach acid.
The miserable fly merits a swift reckoning.
Roll the towel, strike true,
and send the wretch to fly paradise…
—don’t squish the mayo.
~SJ Harrold~
*
3.
AND THAT WAS THE NIGHT
The rain washed away the perverts
tweakers in the park roamed around
and stole money from the elderly.
Black boots stomped on the pavement
white socks pulled to ankles, knife between strings.
Breeze blew onto buzzed hair
keys dangled from a skinny wrist.
Tattooed arms flipped an empty garbage can.
A fight broke out by the stairway,
punches hit against soft skin
Teeth knocked out of a shiny golden mouth
blood spilled out juicy red lips
he took out his phone
and recorded a video.
A rooting crowd circled around,
clapping and cheering on the brawl.
Silver sharp knife split a stomach open,
worms slithered out a bleeding heart
and the water peeled a wet banana.
The fire sprung and rose into the streets
teary eyed ladies howled, called the police
and that was the night creativity began.
~Maceo Nightingale~
*
2.
EYE IN THE SKY BLINKED RED
The train roared underground
employees chatted on the platform edge
drank lit up coffee cups.
Red eyed rats coughed out tracking devices
glass doors slid open,
crowd of cyberjocks
boarded the subway.
Steam razzled into the city
hot dogs served after hours
construction workers hammered
away the glitching advertisement screens
selling discounts on marijuana dreams.
insomniac zombies paid for coffee.
She wore gray headphones
and stared at the blue graffiti
sprayed onto the underground walls.
Static clicked, metro tickets swiped.
Late night musicians played their
synths in return for credit card chips.
Gamers sat hunched over computers
drinking caffeine till the morning sings
barista with purple hair called out in a name
she shrugged and poured a drink.
Vaporwave soared out of the speakers
Bass
hummed
low,
cocaine
served
upstairs.
Living
off
broccoli
and
protein bar
Pigeons gathered by the station,
pocket full of breadcrumbs
apples munched by silver teeth
Crunching
video game
tokens
Dancing
in a
pink
suit.
~Maceo Nightingale~
*
1.
BEDROOM LAMP
Glass shattered onto a fat red nose
the neighbor in 4B danced naked
in the street,
thick legs grooving to harp strings.
Melodies flicked through cocaine
chords plucked on a sleepless night.
Aliens crawled out of a phone,
neon eyes poked through the screen
little legs twitched and leaked purple juice
feedback sang out of abandoned malls
night vision goggles hung up on a burning car.
Blackjack hands on surveillance cameras
paranoid babies, diapers of cow milk
and the blue lesbian wigs lost anonymity.
Firework explosions cracked open the soda bottle.
Eyes blazed in blue smoke, ears sniffed red tomato sauce.
Same sex marriage on a tennis court
swung the wooden racket at California
and stuffed the prop 8 sign
into the trunk of the car.
Mask on, gun reloaded,
One eyed twitch for a rang bell.
~Maceo Nightingale~
