Sincerely, Andrei Codrescu (October 12, 1988)

internationals on cinderblocks

cracks me up that tom brady was caught
working out 
at a public park, playing on the merry 
go round, just enjoying freedom
out of the spotlight
for once.

makes me pine
that OR 7 the oldest oregon wolf
has gone absent without grief
from his mangy pack.
perhaps he travels to cameo
far away, where there ain't 
spy cameras disguised as blinking bracken.

gazelles and giselles 
need not hide
nor pelt some ghost
of quarry hewn amber
with ants immortalized,
strong
asleep. sap  layer cake
by the acre from trees
with legs larger than internationals
on cinderblocks.




4-22-20
oregon

ossuary cradle

a nest on the sidewalk from earth
day, undamaged other than unperched, and no broken
eggs or treaty tape parade

as perfect as nature's components,
the ash sprig  in an ossuary cradle of willow
matted with dog hair and moss

radagast pauses,
a cheap china made umbrella in the hand
to replace the habitat in

his everlasting beard



4-22-20
portland

Forest

hippo critic oaf

the ant materializes

strutting across the top of the laptop.

it doesn't jump eagerly

to an offered finger for a ferry,

it views the warm pink mountain 

an obstacle foe.



it takes two fingers

to save an ant.


you can lead a hippo

to water, but you can't make them critic.

an oaf to secrecy, 

frozen in amber

in a collection of extinct species

managed by birthing blackholes




4-11-20
portland

unmansionables get it

the world may seem upside down

for those used to

being top hog,

getting first slops.

the pecking order now cheeps cheeps

inside the egg, that

perfect egg.


i say nothing to the man

on the contagion bus

as he picks his nose,

flicks a booger

he looks cross-eyed at,

eating what won't fly off.


i do however remark

to the stranger

in the entryway to the grocery store,

bent over forwards

as their jeans have crumpled down

past their knees, mooning

me and the worker spraying down the carts,

"hey dude pull up

your pants" is my only advice,

moving past toward

the perishables.


dignity in such situations

is highly suspect. better to be

the better part of human.


_________



kids don't get it

they can't. kids, used to hiding

playing peek a boo


hiding hiding as mom and dad

call out where are you?



parents don't get it,

hiding in their retirement

with a pantry full of 

whiskey and other staple goods,

watching the pond scum

reflect the clouds clouds clud.


government doesn't get it,

in their secure locations

with drones dropping off bonbons

and coveted life sustaining products.

where are you? we call into the attic,

down the pipes in submarines.

AWOL and busy walling off

so that the public

doesn't get

it.





4-5-20

portland