the burlesque poetess(s)

For national poem-in-your-pocket day ‘11! Here’s a poem-a-day that didn’t make it to the poetesss.tumblr. (Enjoy the above picture of where people-who-don’t-wear-pants/always-have-pockets keep things like poems, and uke picks…flapper underthings.)

285. february 14, 2011 (mon. wk42 start)

Pornival

These are my gothest, smallest chords
I’ve saved. For you, freezebrain, gum balls
and fingers in arthritic gymnast shapes.

To pluck— to arpeggiate more hand-cranked
a shattered crown of sonnets. Exactly paste-jeweled
where you wanted to solo. Now with lead

aftertaste, bitter barber pole misunderstanding
taffy pull of subjective reality—
Bloody more complicated than your popcorn

order. We offer circus stripes, the burly tent seat belts
for your own delectation. Hold on to your
suspended disbelief and watch fobs, fops;

this is a portable affair, the girls shaking
feathers out of the strangest places.
The corn-dog doggone-est minstrel

train. Coffee bean lips, steam sucked up
from a smile to red flares,
nostrils. A kiss and a token, do—

do come in, mister. We may leave
town with you glued to the bench, grey
nails making ribbons of sawdust rain.

(i still harbour pipe dreams of instead of tediously archiving full weeks as i’d been doin’ until november [i’m in the 290’s of my year challenge!]— posting my favourites from each week. but, apologies. things have picked up in my vaudevillian life, and i have less internet times.

*Also, i shared Szymborska’s ‘Some like poetry’ on mlle.tumblr :)

P.S. if you haven’t seen it yet, there’s also an Army of TOys Pornival music video. overloaded tumblr fin.