Sunday, July 14, 2013

An Adam O. Davis Poem





What 

                                                                                                              
What Blues?


Horseflies hunt in the hockshop, heel
like hinges and rest like rust when dead.


They sting despite antidote, despite
aspirin, and give themselves so gladly

to every inevitable end. At this hour dust
is called for. Call it quick. The horseflies

have stung their last. In back, the blind
man’s saxophone is a sorry mess of brass

surrounded by a horoscope of household
appliances. Accordions resigned to the conspiracy

of cobwebs. Wedding rings and handguns,
comic books and collectible plates.

Dead horseflies, lucky horseshoes, defanged
hand grenades. How lost are the least of us?

In time, a bottle brings the blizzard. Ask after
an infirmary for the frostbitten. Ask another

three bars of brass, barely played in a place
where every mouth is a purse of smoke.

Someone asks for a kiss. The night
is a cash register that doesn’t know when to quit.


(2011)

1 comment:

  1. A remarkable poet. Copy & paste this to read some more:

    http://www.gristjournal.com/issues/emerging-writers/adam-o-davis-poems/

    ReplyDelete