poete maudit: February 2017

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

IN THE BEDROOM COMMUNITY

cold and crisp, the neighbor

dog's barking for no reason

bronchitis making the day's

first cigaret go down hard

today's espresso, not

a god shot but entirely satisfactory

some of the family golden-years

elders are improving, some

shut in, no visitors

until further notice

facebook bristles with the usual

political squabbles and excellent food pics

my relatives all have

employment except maybe for

one--my great-uncles were career

housemen, at great-grandma's

boarding house, didn't work

for wages even during the greatest generation war

the great war disabled some permanently

even with the brilliant bannered welcomes

even with total victory, the bomb, beaten

wives and small children, total silence, victory

WELLNESS

been hocking

loogies

for three weeks

i'm dying

until i see

the neighbor's

dog, he does

his business

on the parkway

and meeting

anybody on the

sidewalk wags

his tail using his

entire body joyously

infectiously, brilliantly

he suffers from

numerous ailments

so that his

scrumptious owner

forbids my giving

him treats

bought especially

for the purpose

which saddens me

enormously

but with his epilepsy

his social anxiety

so she says

i honor her

wishes, look on

from afar, from

across the street

oh, that he

were mine

oh, that he

were mine

Thursday, February 9, 2017

METEMPSYCHOSIS?

fresh and fluent, fabulous
a diamond in the rough
diamond dave

but a fidgety ladies man
fraught with love need
conquistador-ing
handsome dave

but as well a trickster in pursuit
prevaricator, poetic inventor
dave the liar

but huge flightiness
this, that, this, then back to double this
so he went to portlandia to stabilize

returning sometime later
somewhat recognizable
added pounds of text

mathematician, logician, weighted
with quick-fire words on
multiple new subjects

but the labia minora now foregone
neo-monkitude
neo-celibacy

in my ending is my
beginning, or words
to that effect

WHY I HATE SPORTS BALL

cowboy's come-back
most stirring in decades
against pretty boy aaron rogers
--that ill-natured lucky putz--
most stirring maybe in all
sports ball history
but the pack's
flock of angels intervened
one blown pass coverage
one sideline hail mary grab
and then a long field goal
swooshes the uprights
nothing but net
but
the cowboys' tying
field goal misses by a foot
blown left by the pack's
guardian angels'
intense wing beats
can't wait
for the pack to encounter
Gisele Caroline Bündchen's Brazilian
Victoria's Secret mojo
good luck to the pack's angels
but i'm betting gisele's
pure macumba
cleavage
--deflated pigskin reminds tom of those heavenly girls--
and you should too

THE RICH ARE DIFFERENT FROM YOU AND ME

“Yeah, they have more money” ~Papa Hemingway

Bill Clinton screwed everybody he could
from Hope, Arkansas, to Timbuktu

the Dems said what’s the big deal!
Monica Shmonica!

but Donaldo’s infamous “locker room talk”
incensed one and all and then

when he cagily triumphed,
then the Dems' youge double-standard,

and then embarrassingly
the sour grapes, shockingly sore

losers almost beyond measure then suddenly
the US Constitution has it backwards! ahem

Gore Vidal said that
he and JFK each had at least 500

sex partners over their lives
and JFK died young: celebrity sex

but Gore’s Malibu housemate Paul Newman
when queried about Hollywood sex said

When you have steak at home
you don’t go looking for hamburger

Alexander Hamilton was murdered by Aaron Burr
over St. Alexander’s infidelity

celebrity philandering can have
its price but it can yield 16 Tony

nominations and win eleven
who’s kidding who?

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

ON THE MEND

been croupy for 10 days
not helped by tobacco addiction
camels-luckies-menthols

growing up was always seriously
anti-smoking, nagged my mom
a passionate smoker since her early teens

yet, like all antis, i yenned
to experience the poison, finally started
in boot camp to avoid policing

the area during smoke breaks
--chose camels to honor kramer-o'grady
only pals who then puffed--

visiting the daughter to recover,
always straighten out here,
lose weight, re-connect

having absinthe with my coffee
to honor van gogh, who enjoyed
immensely his pipe, his hallucinogenics

lethal tobacco has anxiolitic
qualities and dampens appetite
big plusses in my current state

daughter suggested taking
a sick day today, no cavorting
no pool hall, no museums, no baking

just curling up with the dogs
and HBO Now, sr. avila
GoT, sex in the city

deadwood, wired, the young pope,
roommates, insecure,
deadwood, louis ck,

will report
positive outcomes
presently