Stephen Kirbach
3 Poems
junction
surge echo or maybe
the wind westing moist
my Illinois and testingthe corn
town now other
wise unnamed where todayI wobble in
white shoes unyielding where
I already idle a toddler thusmilled under bike
while trundling along
side my mothera warm breeze
between
her left hip and myright trimming
the distance
spottingthe playground and trodden
a path between sodden
trash puddles and patchysnow filth
a rhapsody verging in rapt
witness and awe at kidtrio oncoming on
bikes an uncommon human
myself soon into bitumenonce rendered thorough
fare and ire inasmuch
felt under the sprocket ofone whom
today I beatify psychic
unceasingreckless
euphoric
remote
up from the muck
riffle mat and layered
leaf pack
distrustful of the bookthat perhaps the skull
continues to shrink or
as such toward a vanishingpoint sudden
a series of tracksleft Idaltu
these collections
these hands after dabbling—ded
—ded
locust
drizzle
runner
frisbee
wheel
valve—ound
snatch
torque hammer
feather catchinghe fell into the cactus
running without watching
arm outstretcheddo you remember
Peter
get out that guidebookauto
unfurl thy flag
for whatever snatch flappingthe dead runner will wheeze
glancing back over his bone
shoulder eye socketsunlocked
bone race agent
hips coming unglued one
woke up one morning and wasn’twilling nor able
to herevarnish the roadside and worse
mind ever and alwayswordless
Throttle
The deep and
additional why be
yon our own sun’s
bubble garbles an
aria. Locomotive
drum underlines two
part harmony whose,
it also a kind
of train song, some
sectored engines shrouded
in green, others stamped
horse and initialed with
corn, an icon both inner
and ear. Acme rank
satellites, by gobble, de
range what remains
of our sky. For what were
they asking the hour? Nadia
throttles them flap
jacks with some
thing resembling a
throat. Young minutes
regress, head bending
stolen concrete. Imprison
blind ache melon thump
tempo, for poppycock
coppers I’d seek
even a skunk, sings
the outspoken
spelunker, digging
around in his pockets
for goggles.
after Lisa Jarnot’s “Train Song”