"One Star Too Hot," "They All Sing on, the Cornered" and "Tropical Storming"

One Star Too Hot

masala throttle reversal
turns ochre as meat revenge
goes through
                     distempered             

          choreography
          sauced the bottle stopper
          a sly move
                            at best

                 a slow dank, swallow
                  that dollared munition frenzy

                          *

the  crush of slow
tomato elision breeds 
a lower pastel

            deferential shading
            when making the glowing whirl

     a            fastened
   top          speeding

       crossing the line 
                                  of empty dots

          to hurl
                      the flying plate

              a pirouette
                                whirling in porcelain

 


 

They All Sing on, the Cornered

receding arrears panic
when disruptions concealed
their lost awe
                      to abdominal radar

     wet                      breath clocks
simulation                artichoke pangs
 reflexes                   rendered shut

    parasol technologies
    cash in a transplant panegyric

                  staged 
                  when magical velvet
                             rustled pronouncements

       too                              proctorial
   straining                         for reprint

           a receding a cappella 

                       falls

                              bygone

 


 

Tropical Storming

the islands never return
from shift
                or shrapnel

      no             shredding
   frozen          welt-risen
entourage       memories

            forgotten
            embryo battles
            salt the water

palm fronds leave
unfriendly overtones 
as dry husk
                   lowered

the pitch of its crinkle
fading with the distance tide

     one-way water
     no downside to downstream
      drifting                  en masse
                 on tide’s lift

             to battle each
             for a separate shore

 

 

Vernon Frazer’s latest poetry collection is Voyage in Port. He recommends the Poetry Project at St. Mark's.

 

Edited for Unlikely by Jonathan Penton, Editor-in-Chief
Last revised on Sunday, October 14, 2018 - 22:19