FLOWING BETWEEN BOUNDARIES SO EASILY
4:56 A.M. WEDNESDAYS
—Michael Cluff, Highland, CA
The freeway traffic
is sporadic and happy
for once
and the possum in the back
is safe from the laughter of crows
the beta fish is angry
it is alone.
My feet curl with joyness
when the coffee maker clicks on,
the strong scent
drags me out of
my nightmare
of never-ending papers to grade
poems to revise
weeds to be pulled
into
the reality
that all these dreads and drudgeries
are still there
but in the daytime
can I put them off?
Just like I do
in my nocturnal reflections
on the real world.
_____________________
Thanks to Michael Cluff for the riff on our Seed of the Week: Early in the Morning. Got any thoughts of your own on that subject—or on any other? Send 'em to kathykieth@hotmail.com or P.O. Box 762, Pollock Pines, CA 95726. No deadline on SOWs.
Michael sends us lots of poems; I keep the overflow in a folder for future posting, as I do with some of our other more prolific poets. The other day I noticed that he writes about neckties a lot. So the rest of today's Kitchen fare are Michael Cluff's necktie poems—sort of our soup du jour.
Cynthia Linville sends us this submissions tip: "You carry your weight well" art project is accepting submissions on an ongoing basis: 100 words of poetry or prose on the topic, "What is the weight that you carry?" along with a 600-pixel photo or art-piece. Your image can be as simple as an iPhone or webcam self-portrait. You might want to browse the site to gain inspiration from the ways that others have interpreted their own weight within: weightwithin.squarespace.com/participate Send your submissions to weightwithin@gmail.com
_____________________
THE INSIGHTS OF PATTERNS-III
—Michael Cluff
Bow-ties are too snotty
I have been informed
by those in the fashion-know
still
I will wear them
because they encircle my neck
a tracking collar
for society to keep me
under control and restraint
or
just because....
I wear gartered socks and suspenders
for the same reasons
but flag lapels on my suit
or sports coat jacket
never
just because...
____________________
TARGETS
—Michael Cluff
Dapper enough
a Canadian goose stance
center of the Milky Way look
he stands, then struts
in cuffless light tan dress slacks,
now oh so the fashion,
brown tassled loafers
and no tie.
It mainly works for him
but this time
no.
He is dead already
just doesn't know it
yet
but
she does
or lets him
think she is too.
Purple- and black-striped neckwear
goes on
and she concurs
he is a little less dead
but not nearly as much so
as he
and she
might be
sooner than tomorrow.
_____________________
College professor
vested suit and paisley tie
peace unfulfilling
—Michael Cluff
_____________________
Paisley tie intrigues
the young toddler to grab tight
Pop dead from neck up
—Michael Cluff
__________________
COLIN WORTH
—Michael Cluff
Not nearly so
as bits would indicate,
getting by
by implications
wash out
in the alkaline-
draining sky.
Only a something
which adds up towards
less than what
no body
could possibly hold.
His hair neat
and gray,
pants sharp-creased
and placidly pleated
shirt starched stiff
a tie never undone.
The wind one May
decide to blow right
by him,
Colin,
couldn't
he was not there.
_____________________
TUGGING
—Michael Cluff
Tugging at the traditional
trying to open it up
to new adventures
I throw the rock
of rage wracking
its face to response
The khakis are stained
the knit tie frayed
the cataclysm concluded.
_____________________
Today's LittleNip:
Stars in the purple dusk above the rooftops,
Pale in the saffron mist and seem to die,
And I myself on a swiftly tilting planet,
Stand before a glass and tie my tie.
—Conrad Aiken
____________________
—Medusa
—Photo by Brandy Kemp
