November 2014
I currently live in Arlington, Virginia. During the day I am a bureaucrat, My work has appeared in Perigee Magazine, Red Fez, and Yes Poetry, as well as others. A chapbook of mine, Common Symptoms of an Enduring Chill Explained, has also been published. I blog at mirrorsponge.blogspot.com and am looking to publish a novel.
Extra Fun
Dear Josie, hello, it's 8:36 A.M.
And I'm typing alone, thank God,
In the holding pen when research is done.
When are we going to Chicago?
You for a love, me for a life?
I'm having dreams of the West
And they scare me, though not as much
As the one I had two nights ago,
Things crawling in and out of my body,
Exterminators had to come in
With hand grenades to stop them all.
I guess this is as much a sign
As we can hope for, the move needs to happen,
Manhattan is crushing you,
Despite the perfume of your daily bread,
Meanwhile, Washington is boring me to death,
Everyone here is a strawman, hard
To argue with, better to set on fire and burn,
Dear Josie, goodbye, it's 8:39 A.M.
The armies are ready to come in,
An economic atrocity is about to take place.
Videlicet
Come and feel
My dry bones in the valley,
Where I refuse
To comply and hide
What a common decency
Forbids to be revealed
But I am no commodity
Exchanged
By hands in public,
The acceptance of others
Therefore, is no security
I can count on,
Come and try
To put on your best act
As a prophet,
Sing a song off the sides
Of the vale,
With vibrations
For these joints gone still
And quiet as the night,
Knuckles, fingers, and toes
That are barely white,
Dark in the marrow already,
Though still pale on the surface.
Claim to Stature
Hard to give everybody their day,
We can try giving them some night,
True, it will be colder and darker,
Hard to see where you are going
And harder still to find anyone else
Paying attention to your movements.
So we can offer you a special deal,
Two free nights in a row in exchange
For the one day we cannot spare,
It will be a lovely time, if you can adjust,
Recall your love of summer shadows
To help you cope with this new world.
Fuzzy Plotting
In the bottom of the salad bowl you see
The chopped bit of cucumber forming an arrow,
While other untouched leftovers form
A convenient mustache and goatee.
A shadow on the wooden wall releases
A tiny mythical beast in the markings,
The garden’s blue orchids gather and resemble
The heads of avatars full of serenity.
You are careful where you step in the rain,
The wet ground supplies eels in the damp rocks,
At times you do not disturb the bed sheets
To save a floating swan made of lint.
Rose, look at me with your old penny eyes,
Those eager vessels double majoring in pareidolia,
Bring me into this gift of sight and tell me,
Do you see your future in my face?
Dear Josie, hello, it's 8:36 A.M.
And I'm typing alone, thank God,
In the holding pen when research is done.
When are we going to Chicago?
You for a love, me for a life?
I'm having dreams of the West
And they scare me, though not as much
As the one I had two nights ago,
Things crawling in and out of my body,
Exterminators had to come in
With hand grenades to stop them all.
I guess this is as much a sign
As we can hope for, the move needs to happen,
Manhattan is crushing you,
Despite the perfume of your daily bread,
Meanwhile, Washington is boring me to death,
Everyone here is a strawman, hard
To argue with, better to set on fire and burn,
Dear Josie, goodbye, it's 8:39 A.M.
The armies are ready to come in,
An economic atrocity is about to take place.
Videlicet
Come and feel
My dry bones in the valley,
Where I refuse
To comply and hide
What a common decency
Forbids to be revealed
But I am no commodity
Exchanged
By hands in public,
The acceptance of others
Therefore, is no security
I can count on,
Come and try
To put on your best act
As a prophet,
Sing a song off the sides
Of the vale,
With vibrations
For these joints gone still
And quiet as the night,
Knuckles, fingers, and toes
That are barely white,
Dark in the marrow already,
Though still pale on the surface.
Claim to Stature
Hard to give everybody their day,
We can try giving them some night,
True, it will be colder and darker,
Hard to see where you are going
And harder still to find anyone else
Paying attention to your movements.
So we can offer you a special deal,
Two free nights in a row in exchange
For the one day we cannot spare,
It will be a lovely time, if you can adjust,
Recall your love of summer shadows
To help you cope with this new world.
Fuzzy Plotting
In the bottom of the salad bowl you see
The chopped bit of cucumber forming an arrow,
While other untouched leftovers form
A convenient mustache and goatee.
A shadow on the wooden wall releases
A tiny mythical beast in the markings,
The garden’s blue orchids gather and resemble
The heads of avatars full of serenity.
You are careful where you step in the rain,
The wet ground supplies eels in the damp rocks,
At times you do not disturb the bed sheets
To save a floating swan made of lint.
Rose, look at me with your old penny eyes,
Those eager vessels double majoring in pareidolia,
Bring me into this gift of sight and tell me,
Do you see your future in my face?
©2014 Ben Nardolilli