Brain Stem
—Poems and Photos by Smith, Cleveland, OH
STATUS REPORT 257
Some days
it's the space between pages
the silence before sound
the tip of the tongue
just out of reach
you can almost taste it
the one that got away
in happy never after
worry worn as won
Sometimes fire plays with wood
just licks and leaves
licks and leaves
until it gets a taste
and chomps
Red Eye
BALANCE
Day and night come and go
wet dances with dry
old seeps through new.
The dead outnumber us
feed the living
canceled checks.
I still take new day's step
most hopeful, and yet
look for the lance.
Which coming kiss or curse
or hug or worse
will decide my stance?
Scan Now
SISYPHUS AFTER ALL
It's not all rock
there's the exquisite relief of quitting time
dragging dead flesh twixt hill and home
to swallow cold food
before tepid bath and bed
and the dreamless ache of sleep
where eyes closed in dark
wake in same dark
at alarum's croaker cry
to rise again
stack old bones on new pains
then limp to manual mountain
and hope against logic for gain
Sunfire
EVER NOW
I'm normally normal
but just not now
and it's always now
there're two times:
there's now,
and
not now
today,
and
not today
it's never tomorrow
that's why I'm nearly normal
nominally now
Night Fragment
NIGHT MOVES
Walking rough terrain through pitch black
first cup of campfire coffee one hand
flashlight the other
stop on trail
turn off light
sip black unsweetened coffee
hot in black back of night
something large rustles near by
I tell it welcome, but coffee's mine
black out
I pour black outer liquid
into inner body darkness
after long silence
coffee speaks
Earth Entry
FAIR TRADE
I don't always turn the other cheek,
sometimes I slap back.
And I always forgive,
but never forget.
So beware,
fair is fair.
Mind Meld
PRIVATE EYE SMOKEY GREY
i come to sip yer honey, honey,
my sticky bee—
internal hive memory
nothing personal, just duty.
howdy duty. by jingo. by golly.
by jolly we'll be an external
manifestation
of an inner
conversation
we spark the waters
hold 'em up
do the dirty bop
i need some heart gravy.
give me some heart gravy baby—
lounge lizard rhythm in
polyester time
—with Lady K. Smith
Betty USA
MAKING MISTAKE
I don't make mistake, I don't make mistake,
I don't make mistake, no I don't make mistake
they're not all that great and they lead to hate
make a mess of fate I hate to relate
so I don’t make mistakes
Oh I may make mistake, might make mistake,
could be my mistake, oh yes I’m mistake
mostly wrong on sing of song
lost the timber break the plate
Chasing rabbit, hailing hare
turtle here faster there
end of race rocks each roll
so unknowing's so nice to know
but sorry sir I gotta go I gotta go I gotta go
A chunk of tone and clink off-key
in merry merry mutilation melody
with grunt and groan and growl of gruel
wreck unrhythm on my motley crew
and torture tune unusually cruel
o I do I really really do
So no mistake to make or break
it’s all outtake which comes to fate
I do my do to your is
know at heart it’s all show biz
audience empty payment late
It ain’t mistake but ache I make
it ain’t mistake but ache I make
So chase the rabbit, hail the hare
Turtle here faster there
End of race rocks each roll
so unknowing's so nice to know
but sorry sir I gotta go I gotta go I really have to go
One thing here another there
depends on what the Emperor wears
or dares to care to bare beware
gotta go gotta go I gotta go
To hear with music & backing vocals by Billy Clarksville, word & voice by Smith (6:57, 2015), go to www.reverbnation.com/mutantsmith/song/24464101-making-mistake-pt-2/.
Vice Excel
Today’s LittleNip:
NO WHERE THERE
—Smith
Two no-cats brushed my where.
I looked. They were not there.
They brushed again.
Ghost dance of none against my skin.
____________________
—Medusa, with thanks to Ever-Expanding Smith (Steven B. Smith) for fine poems and pix from Cleveland today! And remember that you have two poetry reading choices tonight: The Long-ish Poem at Sac. Poetry Center, 7:30pm, and Shawn Pittard and Laura Dominguez Abraham (plus open mic) in Davis at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 7:30pm. croll down to the blue column (under the green column at the right) for info about these and other upcoming poetry events in our area—and note that more may be added at the last minute.
Expanding Smith
Celebrate poetry!
Photos in this column can be enlarged by clicking on them once,
then click on the X in the top right corner to come back
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