Civilities

Lingering

On dating attorneys — poetry as complaint

Moon-howling Mama

In the dark
The crows assemble

Unhunching shoulders
With glossy shrugs,
Beaks sussing out
Some unwelcome things
Among them.

Half-opening wings,
Not preening
Just quiet fluffing
And subtle shiftings
Of weight;
Almost imperceptible shufflings
In the order of things.

Readying themselves;
Maybe steadying,

For day and light
Then flight.

Copyright 2010 MC Coolidge

I dance around you
like a firefly –
caught
in the hand
of June;
made wary
by a past
that haunts
the present,
and fuels civilities.

I flail and fall
through impolitic coupling –
as alone
then
as later;
listening to the blues
or meeting your friends,
I murmur civilities.

I feel most honest
when you sleep –
your eyes closed
mine wide open,
holding my own breath
to listen to yours.

It’s those intrepid explorers
I’m wondering about –
the ones who swath
their way
through the overgrowth
through undoing incivility,
shrugging off the pounding din
staring down the dead-yellow eyes
of all those
jungle-hungry hearts.

Her hand,
a small one
according to standards
she’s never been able to meet

Says, “Look — she is here;
let the inquisition
begin.”

(If she’s told one lie,
she’s told ten.)

Fingertips poised
ready to draw
true blue
then drop à point
to be read
once bled.

The vellum almost
an admonishment:
She had better tell the truth.

Insulated as it is
By its cushion
Of double walls;
Protected as it is
By ribs standing sentry;
So far from the brain –

The heart lingers. Read more »

Romantic love

Grasplessness

Intoxicates me Read more »

William Wordsworth sets us straight on a few things.

The world is too much with us

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! Read more »

For Dr. Gerald J. Zinfon, Professor of English and Poet

Champagne, home-grown tomatoes
and peppers, angel hair pasta,
California strawberries with
vanilla ice cream; Read more »

Sleep Intoxication

Inside:

I drink my sleep
In big waves
Of weightless
Thirst

Random lovers
Strap themselves in; Read more »

Outside my bedroom window
I hear the wind

Teasing at the leaves
Like a lover Read more »