010722c

Fates on speed

seed Heaven’s back 40,000,000 for materials
outsource weaving to limbo

7.4 billion to snip
1,000s of bales to recycle
and they never used to go on so long

041921b

 

chariot-borne sun

thunders its arc overhead

new shoots praise her

010121b

 

one step

then another

into the whispering wood 

shadows move, you think

behind the farthest trees

they are phantoms, perhaps

that live only in your eyes

121320b

 
The Wood Between the Worlds


Across the sweet sanguine sea
lit crimson by the setting sun
the canoe beached on the further shore
bark, as where its owner'd dragged it in
the endless plain of fissured wood
stretched on
she took a drink, shouldered pack
and kept the sun at her left shoulder
Yggdrasil must have its end

101820c

 
The Icarian Suite


In streams the warm sun
liquid gold rising
to fill the room
smoke curls from floor
from coverlet
from the hairs on my arms
too late, I move
to close the blinds

082320c

 

Mercury

Hitchhiking barefoot;

people try to give her shoes,

warn her a girl can’t be too careful,

ask her if they can call someone.

They don’t even know.

Part of her religion, she says,

she’s supposed to wear special sandals,

she’s looking for them,

followed the thief from Europe;

yes, her feet do get cold,

but her soles are tough,

and that’s why she spends winters

in the southern tier; her equivalent

of searching under the streetlight.

Classic profile, built like a runner;

turns some guys on,

but she’s never been caught.

Closest she came,

That cop outside of Dallas,

picked her up as a runaway,

thought she was a minor

till he looked into her eyes,

made a grab for her anyway,

but she quicksilvered from his hands;

he never could explain

why he was the one

locked in the holding cell.

She keeps looking for her sandals,

but after all these years she needs a break

from the chase, thinks of trying out

for the next Olympic games;

she can get a forged Greek passport,

she has the looks, she’s got the speed:

even without the shoes,

no one has ever touched her.

 

072620

this must be heaven

golden streets lead straight to this

railed smoking pit

052920

The London Bridge troll

finally makes it to Arizona

but it doesn't like the weather

and the local supernaturals resent interlopers

"Move on," it's told.

Arriving in L.A.

it sees the world ocean

to a troll

every water body is a river

"This place needs a bridge" it thinks

but no engineers are interested

Well, it finds a good bridge

untenanted

at a nice dogleg in its stream

a few years later

it finds out why

051620c

guests admiring

uncanny statuary

the Ambassador lifts its veil

051620

Dryad

green

limbs

were not

a problem

her conversation

voiceless, flowed like wind in the trees

her body, smooth and warm, hard but yielding, drew him in

come spring her belly grew, skin shone

her emerald lips

parted, seeds

came, one

by

one

he lets

the yard go

growing up so fast

he sees her everywhere he looks

ranks of her standing tall and strong in the bloom of youth

042020d

reformatting spreadsheets
Sisyphus loses his tan

041620d

the gorgons' snarls       viper locks

030820b

green

limbs

were not

a problem

her conversation

voiceless, flowed like wind in the trees

her body, smooth and warm, hard but yielding, drew him in

022920c

she don’t ride much now

hood’s a faded pink

hair snow white

her woodsman a decade gone

still she keeps a loaded 9 mil

under the pillow

you never know who

might come calling

022620b

flap harder
Icarus, the breeze'll cool your wings
operator error

020720c

Alice in the Land of the Giants

no matter how many phone books
were stacked on the chair
she couldn't reach her plate,
lifting a fork took two hands,
and she got so thirsty
but couldn't lift her glass.
When would dinner end?

020320

Compassionate Release

Thought I saw her again yesterday
The daffodils are blooming in the park
And a young woman in a white dress
Was lingering by the lake
I wanted to get a look at her face
But when I got there she was gone
I looked down and saw wildflowers blooming
In patches the shape of footprints
I followed, but lost the trail
Flowers were in bloom everywhere.


Partial draft of a new poem.

092119

Midas smiled

and rubbed his hands together

once

072919

The truth is
Icarus did make it to the sun
He didn't meet Apollo
Or a giant ball of plasma
(either would have been fatal)
He plunged right through the paper disk
All the tales
Fake news, after all.

070719d

Dragon’s Teeth




Our teeth fell out like seeds
The new children of Medea
 
Canines:

Extinct species resurrecting,
White-feathered dinosaurs,
Albino Dire Wolves and Deadly Manticores
Prowling the arctic’s equatorial islands

Incisors:

Our own ancestors,
Giant rats,
Camels like giraffes

Bicuspids:

Rhinos 11 feet high at the shoulder
Sabred cats and sharks
A chitinous group-mind

Molars:

Groves of starships underground
Unexpected Nautilus-style portholes
Fittings with organic shapes
Of pahoehoe lava

Wisdom:

Our DNA-mapped and -manipulated children
Modifed dogs walking upright
Machined, man-made sons of men
Artifcially intelligent appliances

In our clenched jaws:

The seeds of new teeth,
Germinating future generations
The shifting / changing forms
One day to walk the Earth
Approach the stars


--David C. Kopaska-Merkel & Kendall Evans
From Night Ship to Never, an out-of-print chapbook
 Available used.
I have digital copies, $1, paypal to jopnquog@gmail.com