O Diane [On hearing that Diane Wakoski will retire soon]

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O Diane,
the King of Spain has abdicated,
and sings beneath your window.
and the Father of our Country
has admitted his mistake, has dropped
the hatchet, and this very moment
plants cherry trees in recompense.
O Diane,
we're burning the motorcycle
Jason wants to take you to the movies,
and Ben Franklin is holding a seat for you
at the poker game.
Heck, we've forgotten where that sonofabitch is even buried.
O Diane,
I still hold a pen
because of you,
I still beat these keys into a pulp
because of what you taught me
O Diane
I've always been a hitchhiker
burning like mountain ash berries in August;
but did you ever realize
you picked me up
years ago?
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Detroit, Paris

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We were making out like 20-somethings

in a Detroit parking lot, tongues coiling

and uncoiling together, hands revealing new territory,
when somebody in a car honked and hollered.

As I grabbed her ass and pulled her closer, I thought:
they wouldn’t do this to us in Paris.

But then I heard her breath hot in my ear,
like a message from a country I’d nearly forgotten,
and I forgave my countrymen.

I’d forgive and forget
my state, my country, even my name,
given enough time like that night.

Her touch was the unspoken romance language,
heated and lilting, precise and luxurious.

One kiss, one touch, one caress
and I was on the Eiffel Tower with her.

Everywhere I looked, it was Paris.

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Howlin' Wolf

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I am working my way

to sing like Chester Arthur Burnett;

a voice that will stop trains,

will bring lightning onto smokestacks,

will send a hurtful woman on her way

or bring her back, even bring back

a little red rooster

whose absence has left the barnyard

in a state of constant agitation.

I want the dogs to moan at my voice,

the hounds to howl when I call.

When I call with this voice,

I may get water

or I may get gasoline

but my voice will call,

and there will be a response;

something in the dark calling back.

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9:40 pm

The words come slower.
No use watching the clock,
the rise and fall of tiny stars;
even the sliver of the moon
is an hour away.
The words come slower,
but this is not everyday.
Yesterday
the words came in torrents in the morning;
15 minutes in the shower.

Dream Tonight

In my dream last night, my father and I lived in a run-down house;

the wooden floor was crooked and soggy from leaky pipes 

that sometimes extended though the floor and ended in an open valve

that would spit water on occasion.

An inch of water would accumulate in the small kitchen.

Outside, I saw my nephew and several drinking buddies return

from a tavern in town; they tumbled out in 

German SS uniforms, black with pink pipping along the sleeves and lapels;

they were happy, drunk and wanted more.

I left for the tourist town nearby wearing only a short t-shirt 

and a hat that I held before me; no one seemed to care I was half naked,

except for the gang of latinos, who seemed to mistake me

for someone else. One pulled a snub-nosed .38 and swaggered it in my face;

I took it, checked that it was loaded, and brandished it back at them,

told them I'd use it if necessary...

Finding a small cafe, I ate lunch and paid with the pistol, returning home to find
even more of the wooden floor soaked and spongy

ready to be pulled up by hand and replaced

with a poorly laid brick floor.

There was still water in the kitchen.

Untitled

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I have a problem with fiction,
especially movies.
Each one I read, or especially watch
I wonder about the protagonist:
why the heck did they do that?
It's the conflict. So often,
everything could have been resolved
so simply, in so many ways
by the first chapter, halfway through the first reel.
But then, who would read, who would watch?
We do not follow the mundane
for the mundane is what we do every day.
Give us anger, a fist, a smoking .38
and we'll follow.
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How Much I Can Hold

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So many friends on the social network
(you know the one)
are railing against the future,
which is, I admit, quite likely and upon us in a coin toss;
corporate poison or greed, government greed or a poisoning
of a democratic republic, foreign interventions or the lack thereof,
the promulgation of bad language skills and not enough stray dogs saved today.

My email is even more determined; every interest group
asking me to sign, to call, to rise and be counted;
a dozen manifestos a day, so many I can't keep count
of how many fists I must raise.

I've only two to hold up in anger and rage,
and believe me when I confess
they've been held aloft so long
I wonder whether the clenched fist is of use.

But neither am I completely sure, yet,
of the completely open hand. Not quite yet.
But I can hold so much more this way.
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