2 Poems

Rondeau (with a line from Clark Coolidge’s At Egypt)

of a sandy fizz in price, bongos in attack we have less of these forlorn in champac the wasn’t tied to where it’s not been true token as to what in their milieu could only be described as leatherback chairs such as those swift & nimble as Muzak in speeding elevator, or hair back squandered as anything, as if she knew of a sandy fizz in price, bongos in attack the bush leaves limp, spiders out of whack a tithe to the forgotten ones, frozen Kodak hovers as tide to throat, switcheroo in the El Camino & she’s got you sure as almanac of a sandy fizz in price, bongos in attack --9.29.01 Mosquito Suite – a Clogyrnach the mosquitoes that swarmed my skin last night – an angry bulletin that woke me not once, a dozen times – runts whose affronts I begin to admire, for their persistence, their perpetual buzzing dance as I leap & try to swat them, they fly off, defy vigilance. Death, where is thy sting next to these tiny deaths who prefer to tease out life & blood bit by bit – think of it – and transmit sly disease? Malaria is not unheard of, even in Vermont, absurd as that may sound; plus there’s hepatitis – why discuss it?  A word suffices.  Meanwhile, there’s a whine in my ear, a chill down my spine already a bite itches, & tonight I won’t fight— I resign. --9.25.01