Saturday, 29 October 2022

Seven Untitled Short Poems by Alan Catlin

 



freak snow

ice

storm in

 

early October

cracks

limbs over

 

burdened by still

green

leaves

 

overloads power

wires

blackens houses

 

highways traffic

signals

 

emergency

sirens never stop



 

gutted metal

casing

 

shell of 24" TV

discarded amid

under

brush

 

trees

 

imploded remains

contain stilled life:

 

dried grass

chipped rock

weeds

broken glass

 

random arrangements



 

beach front signs

strongly suggest:

 

No Swimming

Today — palm trees — leaves

bent against tropical

storm

heavy winds

& rain;

 

Across flooded street

3 carved-from-white-

Marble-men struggle

 

in mortal tug-of-war

with unseen forces

 

the unrecognizable

and the unknown

 

straining

as they pull

 

the opposite way

 


 

Scottish 'games'

beer tent

 

bagpipes

 

segue

 

from traditional

beer drinking airs

 

to American

patriotic tunes:

 

America the Beautiful

semper fi shores

of Tripoli

 

on eve of threatened

ground war

in Middle

Eastern sand



 

Downwind

of the deep fry

 

sugar powdered

dough

sliced potatoes

breaded meats

 

fish

 

spilled beer:

McEwan's

Newcastle Brown

 

an annoyance

of strolling bag

pipers



 

sheep herding

performance dogs

 

Scottish folk

singer's protest-

 

War No More

Hard Work Low Pay

beer tent blues

 

for a cold damp

Sunday afternoon

 

 

 

Yellow crime scene

tape draped over bushes,

trees, air plane tail section,

detached wings; weird to see

in full moon glow.

 

Alan Catlin has been publishing fort he better part of six decades.  His most recent full length books include Memories Too (Dos Madres) and  The Road to perdition (Alien Buddha).  


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