by Dan Murphy

He’s hungry, I think
and like a combine
will eat anything.
Wheat, grasshoppers.
Dirt clods.

Or like an ocean, swollen,
its river–veins pumping
all manner of earthly detritus
into its receiving body.

by Paul Muldoon

WE WERE BUMPER TO BUMPER
DOWN BY THE OUTLET MALL
YOU PUSHED THROUGH IN A JUMPER

TWO SIZES TOO SMALL

I CAN’T ISSUE A FINE

LIKE A TRAFFIC COP

BUT SOMEONE’S GOT TO DRAW THE LINE

SOMEONE’S GOT TO MAKE YOU STOP

MY RIDE HAD BEEN SO SMOOTH

NOW I’VE LOST MY CONCENTRATION

FOR EVERY TIME YOU MOVE

IT’S A MOVING VIOLATION

I ASSUMED IT WAS THE SHOULDER

TOWARDS WHICH YOU’D STEERED

AND YOUR ENGINE SMOULDERED
BECAUSE OF HOW YOU’D SHIFTED GEAR

I’VE BEEN GENEROUS TO THE FAULT

IN YOUR LEAKING CV JOINT

BUT SOMEONE’S GOT TO CALL A HALT

SOMEONE’S GOT TO GIVE YOU POINTS

YOU KNOW IT BEHOOVES

SOMEONE TO WRITE YOU A CITATION

NOW EVERY TIME YOU MOVE

IT’S A MOVING VIOLATION
SOMEONE’S GOT TO PULL YOU OVER

BEFORE YOU HIT 202

FOR NO ROLLS ROYCE OR ROVER

CAN KEEP ABREAST OF YOU

THE WAY SOMETHING HAD MISFIRED
MAKES ME THINK YOU’RE DRUNK

SOMEONE’S GOT TO CHECK YOUR TIRES

SOMEONE’S GOT TO CHECK YOUR TRUNK

I CAN’T STAND HOW YOU’VE

CUT ME OFF MID – CONVERSATION

AND EVERY TIME YOU MOVE

IT’S A MOVING VIOLATION

by Paul Muldoon

I WAS PINNED ON THE HARD SHOULDER
MY HEART WEIGHED DOWN BY A BOULDER
THAT EASTER SUNDAY AFTERNOON
MADDIE PULLED UP LIKE A GODDESS
IT LOOKED FROM HER LOW – CUT BODICE
HER TAN WAS NOT WITHOUT ITS UNDERTONES
THE LITTLE GRAVEL – SPURT
WHERE SHE KICKED UP SOME DIRT
WHEN WE TOOK OFF ABRUPTLY FOR A SPIN
BRAND NEW SKINS HER ’69 MONTEGO WEARING THIN
HER ’69 MONTEGO’S BRAND NEW SKINS

IN HER HOUSE THE EASTER REVELS
FUNCTIONED ON SO MANY LEVELS
AS WE SNUCK UP TO HER BEDROOM
PAST A CHOCOLATE LABRADOR
DOING SOMETHING PRETTY HARDCORE
TWO IGUANAS IN A TERRARIUM

MADDIE WOULD APPOINT
HERSELF TO ROLL A JOINT
FROM AN BALKAN SOBRANIE CIGARETTE TIN
BRAND NEW SKINS HER HAND – ME – DOWN TOBACCO WEARING THIN
HER HAND – ME – DOWN TOBACCO’S BRAND NEW SKINS

WE SUCKED SOME FACE
AND SHELTERED EACH OTHER
FROM THE TERRIBLE DIN
OF HER DAD ON VINTAGE BASS
AND HER KID BROTHER
PLAYING BRAND NEW SKINS

MY HEART WAS NOW QUITE UNLADEN
MADDIE WAS THE KIND OF MAIDEN
WHOSE SENSE OF SIN WAS A SINE QUA NON
IT SEEMED ALMOST SHE WAS PURGING
HERSELF BEFORE RE – EMERGING
THAT EASTER SUNDAY AFTERNOON
NOW HER CHOCOLATE LAB
FROTTED ITS WASHBOARD ABS
I USED THE TERM SHIT – EATING OF ITS GRIN
BRAND NEW SKINS HER RAGGED – ASSED IGUANAS WEARING THIN
HER RAGGED – ASSED IGUANAS’ BRAND NEW SKINS

by Jody Gladding

Ash
            say ash     a fire laid
                          with three logs
                          because a fire must have

            something     to aspire to
                                  third log on top                      to catch

                                  this silence

                                               the fire needs to burn
                                               the fire needs to burn
                                                                                  up

            sometime I’m just split wood
                sometimes I’m what’s caught
                                    a quiet thing

                                                                         trying to say
                                                                                     ash
                                                                                     again

                                                                                                   ash

                                                                     burned into a split log
                                                                     7 x 15½ x 3 inches