can remember him anyway i want
my maternal grandfather's
given name was jerome
but everyone called him harry
grandma ann sang i want that man
i cant answer for the dean part or
anything beyond my own bad choices
but if you knew ann then you'd have
seen he never stood a chance
it's an understatement
to say that i am jealous
of the painters and the actors
and the sculptors self-evidently
covered in each day's miraculum
knowing i'd give anything
for a studio of my own
to have something to come out from
i even put on a bowler
and an eye patch before
i sat down just now only to find
nothing helps this poem
-----------
witness to the spectacle
of fearsome acts
tonight came in one
door and out the
next you said the
moon is a rock
in the sky i
keep hearing her call
to me the heart
is a japanese forest
of echoes gathering encircled
so loosely it holds
when the enemy is
all that they want
of you next they
tried killing us by
double knots untied
doubt and rope nightmares
where their pillory has
grown up beyond our
means to contain it
murder of ravens unkindness
of doves they have
ordered me to stay
i tried to imagine
kind birds softly floating
over a black-sand beach
as hard work dropped
three honest hammers in
the long grass behind
the barn and you
sing to me of
riding over a green
field by horseback or
levitation fog crowned mountains
on either side
sending a little holiday
joy your way sticks
clubs righteous blessed mean
right hands friends ready
for the fight and
honest enemies watching our
great great grand-dad
reading a thirty-five
hour poem standing on a
shoebox where corners
meet is the strongest
place this is how
the word promissory will
die in the future
making our own shoes
tables plates abomunists coming
later sailing up through
new orleans i burn
the shape of your
lips into light the
thing about silence
is the end
rolling hunter/killers dodging
the tectonic percussion of
plate shift and toothpaste
accusation a distant memory
of enamel the oculist's
revolt eye-teeth and broken
shards of art glued
to a squat wall
the movie 'children of
men' saved on your
phone we dyed our
hair cherry kool-aid pink
long soft hours short
hard days i need
more black of night
with you we echolocate
for water and love
my fingerprints draw the
shape of your lips
into light the thing
about silence is the
end so they will
know we were earthlingers
i read from grandma's
big no big country
big enough book of
socialist recipes for the
hard trip west california-
pennsylvania' so they will
know we were collateral
nov '39 july '71
shred feelings tamp blues
and ownership papers into
a cup hot water
for tea steep paper
drink ink boiling like
steam goes up like
tears in your eyes
come down when
they approach for your
lands or your squat
break the service raise
shards to bloody lips
porcelain patent leather high
heeled boot confusion smooth
reshape ceramic melt arrowheads
and fire accordingly gentility
and full sentences lost
to time to too
many moves batteries tred
worn tires water gambles
lost survival prima prima
prima the shadows swallow
everything parallel lines never
meet to make a
circle you have to
bend to love or
hate hungry is a
god thirsty is a
devil oxygen and comfort
a mother and a
child the thing about
silence is the end
in one door and
out i love you
i love you prima
prima prima survival survival
is always the thing
---------
i feel bad for time
to never have an
end
the floodlight on the porch
is a motion detector
i crash
at this girl's place black
black hair variant variant
skin raspberry
lips amy wine house around
the eyes wonder woman
around her
lasso-intellect india pale ale
in my mouth jim
jarmusch movie
in the air every time
she pulls me down
again with
her golden rope with her
fine body and her
mean hands
the flood light on the
porch goes off angels
lose their
wings i see your face
i see your face
your face
the scene opens with the
sound of typewriter keys
being pressed
i don't think they are
real typewriter keys being
pressed i
think it is an app
there are five pink
roses on
the card table in a
chipped mint vase those
are real
she wipes my chin with
her forefinger the spoon
is cold
lifting another scoop of butter
pecan to my lips
i freeze
the scene opens on piles
of rock i don't
think the
sound of typewriter keys being
pressed is an application
inside she
wipes my chin with her
forefinger the spoon is
cold lifting
another scoop of butter pecan
to my lips i
freeze the
flood light on the porch
goes off angels lose
their wings
i see your face my
clock is a clock
my hands
are clock hands the ticking
seconds are dogs held
back by
strangers in the dark we
made a tent god told
me to
sing to the rattlesnake as
i held it in
my arms
and felt the snake's head
turn and it's eyes
were god's
eyes and it came for
me and i died
like a
soufflé in the oven with
the door open too
fast letting
all the flies in there
was a class explaining
it all
bow ties and cummerbunds we
couldn't afford cake anyway
boris karloff's
final words were walter pidgeon
the floor shook like
a conductor's
baton drawn and quartered is
a rough go pessimism
isn't creation
and it isn't wisdom when
the rain falls there
is water
and there is gravity i
misunderstand the starting place
green is
happy it isn't gray gray
doesn't know stone can
be beautiful
the valley is a huff
the horses come over
the hill
and the hill shakes like
a lost patch i
don't see
any dogs i hear the
drums plug in the
mic plug
in the mic bring me
everyone bring me every
every one
Based in Dallas, Paul Koniecki's latest books of poetry are, "After Working Hours" from NightBallet Press and "Reject Convention" by KleftJaw Press. His poems appeared in the Richard Bailey directed movie, "One of the Rough" AVFF Cannes at the Berlin Experimental Film Festival in December of 2016. Together Paul and his wife Reverie Evolving facilitate poetry workshops, readings, retreats, and non-traditional publishing in the Dallas area and beyond.