This was NOT the plan.
(this poem built from stolen goods:
unauthorized, filched lines from
"Be Still", Phillip Barker,
too far away
to call the cops on me.
Thanks, Phill! Sorry
I didn't ask, had
to get it down
before it was gone
from memory, that most
unreliable, these days,
of storage bins.
I HEARD that impatient sigh,
wanker, just put it on the tab.)
MORNING PANIC IN THE SLEEP
FOG
waking
the other shoe
drops
mind stuck
in blear
"perception depends
on memory"
panic depends
on "the shadow
falling across your soul"
with its
streak of red
and
faster
(thank God)
streak of black
"this
impression
is believable"
heart
rallies the troops
"wind whistles
and howls inside"
"tracking a moment's
devastation"
"be still", heart,
blood's needs
hear it not
"usual warnings apply"
“out there be dragons”
I charged
"Qixote like"
"into the dark"
"all warnings unheeded"
to tilt
at the latest
tall windmill
"deep black water"
the breach
in the dam
not tall at all
but
too wide to jump
"Fire in the chest?"
"Who cares?"
Baby's met
the dragon,
but she
was fleet enough
to get
high
where she
watches,
panting,
from
a nosebleed seat
in the Loblolly
pine,
the new kits
in the den
daddy dragon
depends
on "blood
on the pillow"
a new "spider
on the spike"
to quell
their nattering
yips,
fed up with the tit,
wanting blood
mama "dragon
uncurls gracefully"
in the den
perfectly square
hole
in a wall of
the breach
sheds her
"glorious slumber"
barking shrill
toward the chase
echoing,
ringing, through
the silence
of woods,
drilling
through
thick
piney boughs
"Honey?
you got
any "evidence
to burn?"
papa lifts his
head
annoyed
at her
long-range
nagging
howls loud,
terse,
his failing,
"not this time,
babe, it's
leftovers
again"
--Jo VonBargen, Phillip Barker 2013
This poem came from my morning walk in the peaceful woods, out searching for ME, that most elusive, deluded stupid girl who plays Hide & Seek with terrifying skill, damn
her wascally wabbit hide!
unauthorized, filched lines from
"Be Still", Phillip Barker,
too far away
to call the cops on me.
Thanks, Phill! Sorry
I didn't ask, had
to get it down
before it was gone
from memory, that most
unreliable, these days,
of storage bins.
I HEARD that impatient sigh,
wanker, just put it on the tab.)
MORNING PANIC IN THE SLEEP
FOG
waking
the other shoe
drops
mind stuck
in blear
"perception depends
on memory"
panic depends
on "the shadow
falling across your soul"
with its
streak of red
and
faster
(thank God)
streak of black
"this
impression
is believable"
heart
rallies the troops
"wind whistles
and howls inside"
"tracking a moment's
devastation"
"be still", heart,
blood's needs
hear it not
"usual warnings apply"
“out there be dragons”
I charged
"Qixote like"
"into the dark"
"all warnings unheeded"
to tilt
at the latest
tall windmill
"deep black water"
the breach
in the dam
not tall at all
but
too wide to jump
"Fire in the chest?"
"Who cares?"
Baby's met
the dragon,
but she
was fleet enough
to get
high
where she
watches,
panting,
from
a nosebleed seat
in the Loblolly
pine,
the new kits
in the den
daddy dragon
depends
on "blood
on the pillow"
a new "spider
on the spike"
to quell
their nattering
yips,
fed up with the tit,
wanting blood
mama "dragon
uncurls gracefully"
in the den
perfectly square
hole
in a wall of
the breach
sheds her
"glorious slumber"
barking shrill
toward the chase
echoing,
ringing, through
the silence
of woods,
drilling
through
thick
piney boughs
"Honey?
you got
any "evidence
to burn?"
papa lifts his
head
annoyed
at her
long-range
nagging
howls loud,
terse,
his failing,
"not this time,
babe, it's
leftovers
again"
--Jo VonBargen, Phillip Barker 2013
This poem came from my morning walk in the peaceful woods, out searching for ME, that most elusive, deluded stupid girl who plays Hide & Seek with terrifying skill, damn
her wascally wabbit hide!
