CRIMINAL TENDENCIES
Funny, but I used to be a white man in his
mid-thirties. Now I know that no revolution can achieve what evolution can’t.
Just give me a flashlight & a drawstring bag, & leave a car in the
parking lot unlocked, & when I’m done rummaging through the glove box, let
me walk away & not be seen. It’s like Helen Keller said (at least I think
it was Helen Keller): Water, a silver
bracelet with blue stones.
FOREIGN TRAVELS
You’re
laughing so hard
at
the white bony ass of the moon
that
the man on the phone
snaps
in irritation, “Lady,
it’s
not funny!” though, of course,
like
the tree frog tattoo
on
my forearm, it kind of is,
an
arbitrary moral system
backed
up by your private army,
a
half-dozen druggies
high
on little red cold pills
&
unintimidated by the buildings
that
Hitler said would someday
make
more magnificent ruins
than
the marble of the Greeks.
FIVE SIGNS OF EARLY DEMENTIA
1
I
say “electrocution”
though
I mean “election.”
2
My
voice shakes
even
when
I’m
not speaking.
3
I
can watch beer commercials
without
becoming the least thirsty.
4
A
crows builds
its
dank nest
in
the branches
of
my heart.
5
I
disregard the warning:
This
Bag Is Not a Toy.
CP
Howie Good, a journalism
professor at SUNY New Paltz, is the author of many poetry collections, including Dreaming in Red from Right
Hand Pointing and Cryptic Endearments
from Knives Forks & Spoons Press.
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