October 16, 1981

Other Press

 

 

 

Fireworks

Fire works melt in the mind
like candy in the mouth
dripping coloured flavours

that never touch the earth

Poems explode in the air
~ just once-before they die

tracing out their patterns

against a blackened sky

Security of the Lights

The night the lights went out
I felt the alleys fall about me
in sullen rage

I saw the sidewalks

rear up in anger

and watched while cars

destroyed their owners

The night the light went out
my fear shook hands with

a plate glass window

kissed the pavement

and befriended a lonely brick

The night the lights went out _
I stood Pn my own eclipse
poised on edge
in total anticipation
my spine a corner
I couldn't escape
the night the lights

went out

Review Editor : Jody Gilbert

- Reader: Alex Jones

SELECTIONS FROM THIS
AND FUTURE OTHER
THAN POETRY REVIEWS
ARE GOING TO BE
PUBLISHED IN BOOK
FORM IN JANUARY.

Surprise Party

My brain lit up like a sparkler

just as the lights went out

someone wished me happy birthday
but the words didn’t mean too much

a self-illuminated man has other concerns
I tried to find the door

from the darkness beyond

my flickering pool of light

a voice ghostly and unknown

granted me the best of luck in future years

there’s no birthday boy here, friend
just this wall I’m

edging carefully along

almost in fear of

falling off

GIVE‘IM A HAT
FOR CHRIST‘S SAKE
IT‘S HIS BIRTHDAY! !

an arm disembodied placed a paper hat
on my head which burst
immediately into flames

arm head and hat

all in blazing glory

gave the door away and

I slipped out as inconspicuously
as a person on fire can

slip out of a darkened room

there’s no birthday boy here _—
no birthday boy
no birthday
no birth
no

 

 

Poems by gordon cavenaile

 

=

 

the moon is half-cut
it leans against my window

gentle and foolish

Platonic Relationship

You rolled me with
my clothes on.
seduced my thoughts

and spread your mind before me

Ientered and

blew my load

ed statements across the
hills of your consciousness
like a cloud

_ We rolled and rolled
and eventually came
to realize that we were like the
waves climaxing

with the force of all that preceeded

And in the embers
of smoky dialogues our flaming erection

of mutual rapport guttered

You really came across, baby

but now what?

 

ny