Strange Fruit of Unrewarded Labor
Citizen X
His trash goes uninspected to the dump.
A little fame would open him
to gloved, enquiring analysts
gleaning tossed out information:
Keeper of cats. Patron of
the postal service. Skimmer of
mediocre local news. Eater of
industrial calories. Consumer of
domestic beer, cheap wine,
intoxicating spirits.
Poems Like Biscuits
Mix ingredients with care.
Resist temptation-
do not overmix
and issue bricks
instead of pillows
from the oven.
To Those Indelible Coils
Along Her Arms and Shoulders
I don't live in tattooed skin so
can't be certain why this Goth-ic
woman inks her arms and shoulders,
and probably less visible skin,
with these insinuating snakes
and briars. The impulse is akin,
perhaps, to that compelling me to
scratch remarks and hope for readings
both affirmative and close.
Creative Differences
Fictionists, like God,
are makers and destroyers of worlds.
Poets are more like Jesus,
suffering the cross
after the priests and prefects
have their fun.
Where Worlds Collide
Artists straddle worlds-
their larger parts in one
contrived by fortunate investors,
their accountants, attorneys,
and double jointed politicians-
and the rest (at least a toe,
an ear, an eyelash) in another
that whispers vulgar insults
about the dull world
to the artists
who dutifully try
to bring the worlds together
but never quite can manage it.
His trash goes uninspected to the dump.
A little fame would open him
to gloved, enquiring analysts
gleaning tossed out information:
Keeper of cats. Patron of
the postal service. Skimmer of
mediocre local news. Eater of
industrial calories. Consumer of
domestic beer, cheap wine,
intoxicating spirits.
Poems Like Biscuits
Mix ingredients with care.
Resist temptation-
do not overmix
and issue bricks
instead of pillows
from the oven.
To Those Indelible Coils
Along Her Arms and Shoulders
I don't live in tattooed skin so
can't be certain why this Goth-ic
woman inks her arms and shoulders,
and probably less visible skin,
with these insinuating snakes
and briars. The impulse is akin,
perhaps, to that compelling me to
scratch remarks and hope for readings
both affirmative and close.
Creative Differences
Fictionists, like God,
are makers and destroyers of worlds.
Poets are more like Jesus,
suffering the cross
after the priests and prefects
have their fun.
Where Worlds Collide
Artists straddle worlds-
their larger parts in one
contrived by fortunate investors,
their accountants, attorneys,
and double jointed politicians-
and the rest (at least a toe,
an ear, an eyelash) in another
that whispers vulgar insults
about the dull world
to the artists
who dutifully try
to bring the worlds together
but never quite can manage it.
good stuff. like the "suffering the cross" line!
Wow. Just wow. Instead of choosing a line here and there to quote, I'll just say that I think they should all be repeated, talked about. This is great stuff.
"and issue bricks
instead of pillows
from the oven."
Sometimes they hit like a brick. Knock you down and leave you dizzy. Often in need of care.
Great. *
Thank you very much, James, Sheldon and Harley. Encouragement from three fine writers is a tonic.
Like them all.
*
It's a great set, Gary. Good writing.
"Fictionists, like God,
are makers and destroyers of worlds.
Poets are more like Jesus,
suffering the cross
after the priests and prefects
have their fun."
*
So LOVE your work, Gary! "
Artists straddle worlds-
their larger parts in one
contrived by fortunate investors,
their accountants, attorneys,
and double jointed politicians-
and the rest (at least a toe,
an ear, an eyelash) in another
that whispers vulgar insults
about the dull world
to the artists..." So many truths packed in with mesmerizing vision. I'm a fan! ***
I was going to quote lines but there are too many. I'll have to be satisfied with saying Great!*
Hope these are all submitted somewhere. They are fine, very fine.*
These introspective little gems grab hard.
*
Thank you all so very much. Now I have really good gin, Rose's Lime, and some nice lime slices to go with the tonic. Light headedness will follow.
Brilliant. Scratch remarks (scratch marks?) in the tattoo segment strikes my inner somersault agent as particularly brilliant. *
Thank you so much, Beate.
"Eater of industrial calories": Love that line. so. much.
All of these are fantastic. Glad I visited today.*
Thank, you Jen. I hope you will share something, soon.
Great bunch of words. *
Thank you very much, Penny.
Gary, you're knocking them out of the park.
Thank you for reading these, James.
I love that you combined an assortment of small poems under the title: Strange Fruit of Unrewarded Labor. Creative differences was especially dear to my heart. Fave* It's funny I came to find your incredible poetry through such an uncharacteristic "character study/rant."
Great title for the whole thing! "Strange Fruit of Unrewarded Labor." Man, that's a great title, feels good to type.
I also deeply enjoyed "Citizen X" and "Creative Differences."
Fine work, sir.
*
Whoa - these are good! You have a great way with titles. My faves were Poems Like Biscuits and To Those Indelible Coils
Along Her Arms and Shoulders!
Thank you very much, Gloria, Matthew, and Emily.
"Artists straddle worlds-
their larger parts in one
contrived by fortunate investors"
Yep.
Thanks for reading these, Gary.
These are fantastic, Gary, I feel as if these short poems woke me up from a short-term creative! I especially relished the last one. After all, I think the world collision was the reason for my coma.