Skeletorsmith
—Photos and Poems by Smith, Cleveland, OH
CONFESSIONS OF A CONSERVATIVE
Let others munch spare frogs legs and things
Or their mother's tidbits so fine.
Not me.
I prefer wee bumblebee wings
With a pipe of blueberry wine.
I've no desire for porcupine stew
Aunts coated in chocolate yea thick
Fried crocodile
Ala flayed caribou
Or some other chef's table trick.
A simple table whenever I dine.
Not mine all these modern cuisines.
I'm quite satisfied with blueberry wine
And old fashioned bumblebee wings.
~ ~ ~ - 1975
Xmas Light Lady
THE HEART AS ARSONIST
Sure the kindling,
but as well the wood.
The place as such
and substance
of the matter.
Time.
Amounts of time to flicker,
flame in bright arrogance,
become fuel to continuity,
faded maturation.
It is not wonder
yet is
why wolves, weres and lovers
lie dreaming before fires
fire places
emotions.
It is the melancholy
of the cycle calling
Warmed atavisms
consumed in life
in love of rebirth.
The remembrance
of werewolves wanting wings.
All these
the core past caring
belonging
the fire is
is love.
The spark
to kindle the passion
then human the substance
to weather completion
this this is love.
~ ~ ~ - 1985
She 'n Me
PAST LIES AND POVERTY
Old wonders shrink, grow tame in time
The new fear hangs on
In quiet desperation, quit of desire
Like the shadow of a crowded
Culture in which each
Declare their innocence
In straight unfocused silence
It is there
The smell of unwashed
Dishes smug in the stench of our
Unclean shame
Like a salesman's underbreath
Fishy, stale
The deep teal, the tiled resonance
Of hungers on top of hungers
~ ~ ~ - 1995
Night Vision
AUTUMN LEAVES
Leave me not in love and truth
Leaves me not at all
Leave my loss its soft misuse
Leaves my foreskin small
Leave my lost belief in youth
Leaves my use in thrall
Leave my use in used abuse
Leaves me moist of all
~ ~ ~ - 2005
Sisyphus Smith
DADA GREYBEARD
A lady poet followed me home
And asked if I could keep her
I replied
It must be denied
For I had no room in my freezer
She engineered her stay
Of relocation with play
Charm and elocution
Praised this and that
Allowed a wee pat
Counted on evolution
I may be cheap
And easy too
But for female I’m hard-wired
And too
It’s sort of cool
This once being the one that’s desired
Though I question her taste
Her need of rat waste
A too hasty fade
Will shatter shades
I cannot replace
Best to see
What she reweaves
What treasure in her trundle
Though it fracture my plan
I am but man
And man is meant to bundle
~ ~ ~ - 2015
Red Lip Love
CONVERSATION WITH WIFE 11
Leaning back in my chair,
Lady bends over and kisses me.
I reach up my two hands,
cradle her breasts.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm holding these up for you,
was afraid they'd fall and hurt me."
"Oh, you're sooo brave, and manly . . .
now can you make me some coffee."
"Coffee for the breasts?"
"Yes, that is the price."
"Ah, the booby price.”
~ ~ ~ - 2016
Oaxaca
STATUS REPORT 155
I hunt outside the pack
no gang of from, no seeking herd
Watch tribal fire from afar
past spread of heat and light
Whisper own word to beat of drum
dance old in dust of new
I eat your roadkill
feed from garbage overfull
Let the cultural compost begin
~ ~ ~
STATUS REPORT 157
The falling snow muffles sound, scatters night
reduces here and now to black and white
In this low light
cellophane shards shimmer like jade
______________________
Today’s LittleNip:
STATUS REPORT 161
Time cries hurry.
Wisdom whispers wait.
______________________
Many thanks to Smith (aka Steven B. Smith) for today’s fine menu of poetry and pix, spanning sixty years of his writing!
A few local notes:
•••Check out Daniel Weintraub’s Sac. Bee article (Tuesday, 2/2) on Dean Schillinger’s project with young poets and diabetes prevention at www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/article57775943.html/.
•••We’ve been talking about local on-going workshops, so check out yesterday’s Sac. Bee article on a national workshop for all writing genres called Shut Up and Write! It meets regularly in Sacramento as well as in many other areas: go to www.sacbee.com/entertainment/books/article57674763.html for the article. The local group can be found at www.meetup.com/shutupandwritesacto/#past/.
•••This Sat. (2/6), 9-11:30am, Manzanita Press will present a Romantic Poetry Workshop: Something Sweet or Sizzling with Suzanne Murphy. Manzanita Arts Emporium, 1211 S. Main St., Ste. 110, Angels Camp, CA. Reservations required ($25): manzapress.com or manzanitawp@gmail.com or 209-728-6171 or 209-768-9021. Info: manzapress.com/SuzanneValentine.pdf/. Manzanita Writers have taken on the ambitious project of their Emporium in Angels Camp. Check it out!
•••Also this Sat. (2/6), 9:30am-4pm, Modesto-Stanislaus Poetry Center's 4th annual MoSt Poetry Festival will be held at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 1528 Oakdale Rd., Modesto. Workshops, luncheon, poetry contest w/guest poets Troy Jollimore, Heather Altfeld. See www.mostpoetry.org for info.
—Medusa
Be 2