Clintonium!

NaPoWriMo Day 30: This Old Couch

April 30th, 2010 - Comments (6)

sags worse in the middle every year
has stuffing poking out of the cushions
and holes right through the frame
to the floor
so we feed it with pillows
before the movie starts
to keep it from eating us
and we flop and stretch
from one side to the other
trying to find the better spots
but when she leans against me
and my arm slips around her shoulder
I look at her face
in the flickering light
and can’t help thinking
these are great seats

Posted at 10:42 pm in Poetry - Comments (6)

NaPoWriMo Day 29: Modest Mussorgsky, in the Hospital

April 29th, 2010 - Comments (4)

“Life, wherever it reveals itself; truth, no matter how bitter… these are what I want, this is where I am afraid of missing the mark.” – From a letter to Vladimir Stasov

I’ve worked and I’ve watered that musical spark
(at times I have watered too well…),

I’ve hungered for poison, alone in the dark
and burned in a sobering hell,

I’ve seen the fruition of all that I feared,
lost even a servant post’s wage,

I’ve sopped up sonatas like soup from my beard
and bellowed with orchestral rage,

Yet always I’ve thirsted for life in my art,
for something to buoy me up,

I’ve poured out the notes of a desperate heart
but settled for death in a cup.

Posted at 3:40 pm in Poetry - Comments (4)