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<strong>Flower</strong> <strong>Head</strong><br />
(Noon)<br />
Nathaniel S. Rounds
ISBN: 978-1-927593-39-4<br />
©2014 Nathaniel S. Rounds<br />
Published by Fowlpox Press
<strong>Flower</strong> <strong>Head</strong> (Noon)<br />
Nathaniel S. Rounds
<strong>Flower</strong> <strong>Head</strong> (Noon)<br />
On a cathode ray tube TV<br />
Pop star sings with gravel-lined throat<br />
Ad hoc lyrics stab and then<br />
Bleeds the listener<br />
Who awakens without painful memories<br />
And yet recollecting the flesh<br />
Of a warm, big fish<br />
*<br />
We feel sorrow regarding prior conflicts<br />
Slick as whetstone<br />
Deaf to afterbirth of faux- gourmet-<br />
Pork-as-propaganda<br />
*<br />
The alchemist laughs<br />
Then collapses, castrating himself in rainfall<br />
Waiting for help while dreading night’s arrival<br />
And the promised alleviation<br />
Of the mysterious design of his own psyche<br />
Relinquishing feathers<br />
Of starlings in flames of gold and orange<br />
And in this oasis in a glade<br />
We listen, quiet, still<br />
The fiery birds fleeting, flying<br />
To jungle drums<br />
Alerting those waiting<br />
In war paint
Trouble Light<br />
I stood down on side of the hill, with stolen crutches<br />
Begging for change<br />
I wanted your attention, a night<br />
Out of the shelters for the destitute<br />
And nameless<br />
I was digging deep for some precious scenery<br />
But that tall, gaunt, girl<br />
Gillian<br />
She doesn’t take well to low-protein<br />
Shakes and twirling<br />
She needs daily sacrifices<br />
Of bulls, goats<br />
And anything that breathes<br />
Before it dies<br />
In the hand of the high priest Ezra<br />
Before it dies<br />
When you know you’re too old<br />
Before it dies<br />
And the century dances for<br />
The son or daughter you never had
Pigeon in a Cake Tray / Tho Thea Youm Chlong<br />
Ferrugo Hawkins / man of winter in a dusty suit / air filter over nose and mouth / Ferrugo<br />
Hawkins / rings buzzer for apt 9 / "Hello?"inquires a voice/ behind pierced metal wall / "I'm sorry<br />
I'm late," says Ferrugo / "Fatal car accident on the bridge. Traffic's a mess. Whole family in a<br />
hatchback wiped out. I took pictures of course. Lots. Artistic, even.... " / The door buzzes open /<br />
Ferrugo opens door / enters apartment / approaches a dining room table / there / a pigeon on its<br />
back, in a cake tray/ The pigeon hosts maggots, dancing / "What's the matter?" asks a voice /<br />
"Don't you want to sit down?" / From his pocket / Ferrugo's hand produces / 550 paracord / braid<br />
unraveled / nobby hands tie one end to a sidetable / Ferrugo opens window / climbs down/<br />
paracord rips hands / blood scars Saint Anne house of white / sunlight pulses over shadow of man<br />
/ leaving unfinished business / behind
Operant Conditioning /On Intrepid Contagion<br />
I was born in a centripetal spring armchair facing an executive desk on the corner of which sat a<br />
grim figure in a chalk line suit with two slender fingers clasping a cigarillo. His words: "You're a<br />
phoney, a failure and an affront to stalwart citizens of this country. You have no natural ability and<br />
will be buried on the city's dime."<br />
I excused myself and crawled toward something pendulous with a leaky knot at one end.
Serviette Humidifiée / Graves of Lust<br />
When Drosophila Blakey came storming out of a meat freezer in a one piece floral bathing suit with<br />
two water pistols blazing her brother Robert hardly looked up from his piano. He improvised and<br />
expanded and built up a cake, and washed off her disturbance with a moist omelette. On most<br />
Tuesday mornings, Robert plays by the window of Kibroth Hattaavah 's Meat Shop ("Our Meat is to<br />
Die For").<br />
While a bride advanced in her pregnancy sits outside, marking pages of a Medical Encyclopedia with<br />
whole trout and pressing them shut with her bottom, a short motorcyclist stands on a step stool,<br />
lancing a cyst on the back of the building superintendent's neck. When the puss is completely<br />
drained, the incision reveals an on/off toggle switch. When placed in the “off” position, the world<br />
turns black.