Four Poems
by Michael D. Amitin
anna
anna's a flowerpot flow, chinese
scent of wild pulse
pan-fried paname panoramas, streetlight rain
gold comes trickling into her ruby night-bottle
a changeling—her miss fortunate cookie hands clamped together—
takes another swig at life on the make
and keeps the heat on all night and day
Shadow Morphine Dress
frozen on hard-to-see corners, her
shadow morphine dress and his note read
i'm here whether i'm here or not,
you send me valentines from afar
a cold shoulder when we're near
my heart is true as a headlight dear
hair in blue afro-dite curls
del-rio ocean black eyes
and the lamppost above shivers
glow-devil-may-care nighttime winks
by the time she got it right
the chill of the past caught up to her
tied her ankles in reef knots
ballad of the maplewood statesman
my ears ring like a fire from a ship's radio
i'm sinking, grasping buddha's life raft
ragged bone jones
curdling from the docks of broken eyes-rolled
in pantries of magic and poem
nectar that knows its way home
I need this flock of geese flapping in the energy breeze
above me, creates a scene past the threadbare air
a game of last-gasp solitaire
it's all too much
poets piss golden streak affirmations
sex lay in state at coffin station
the community chest waits for a key
held by the spiritual while the guru in his golf slacks sets the tv
moses brought the commandments
buddha the diamond s.
rodin's man thinks too much
a french touch, hunched he has a hunch
buddha sits straight as a starlit arrow
infuse my ruse with heart
in these dark sunset years
I row
blue as monday morning rain
can't explain why I grow so wistful
recalling the past
whizzed by fast as a naked girl billboard
a city metro
whistling in the candy-crumbling wind
foisted into a world that wants to scrub
decks of freedom with antiseptic ulcer juice
susie sways cat fever dance
for us to see what she's still got
a grand outpatient shot
stiff one gonna blow her away
telescope dope refrain
war go north war go south
rah fuckin rah babe
goosed on the juice of religion
quicksand valentines smile right past me. then
she young and beautiful
missed the allusion
it poked me in the eye
insecurities blow through me like chameleon leaves
in the hide-n-seek twilight
heat bearing down
melting at salvation's win-a-stuffed-duck altar
words gotta sing man, jump beats like ol joe's barroom
harbor rat blues, just do it for yoself
playing chinese checkers
with burnt poodle cigars
where polar bears wave goodbye
with bad moon shakes on folding quakes of arctic ice
wander like tibetian thelonius monks
to prison ports with holy pianos
winter stole the gold off our trees
glorious native american september disappeared
quick as a Custer custard at little bighorn, dear
here's my fix
a slow boat to eternity
summer sun can't beat me with its hot poker-joke stick
and the new sea level devil can't steal
my american tambourine grin
long dark spin so many on the wheel of misfortune
anyone care
too busy buying z's zip underwear
stuck immobile with the spirit-deficit blues again
fuckin a
a hurricane in LA,
earthquake in marrakesh
floods in derna
earth spinning like an LP at 45
she stares into her palm-frond navel
worrying about the release of her eight-fifth novel
I once lay on the empty little league field bench
with my transistor and mary wells
today I gazed at Migrant Mother circa 20's
ball players fit as a butcher's dog
bogged down beards long hair manes
turf bohemians once claimed
dr woo where are you
bring the spicy chocolates
we're all one soul split into a billion pieces
motes of sunlight
individuality enshrined in goldie's hot spot museum
if a bee were a bird
this dripping honey would fill the blue canals of misery
but baby this hive is as tight as a banker's ass
Fat Burger Blues
half-maiden chefs flipping hotcakes
from burnt-paradise griddles
crying salvation in the midnight grease
slump betty swings to attention jumps like a sleep freak
to the ceo tambourine ring of general dollar
see it on the newsstand willie
make a dime off cock fight crimes
america
snow white turning tricks at midnight gunpoint
under the influence of flophouse dungeon figs
flashing ten-second sideshow dreams
peppy radio queens blister with unholy tongues
a game show war
in august's blistering bent sun
snowed by gods of science and the aimless famous
skipping frantic frenzy in the non-realities
passed back n forth like death's blowtorch football
naked baton twirler
soaking up news like boredom steak juice
a forty-nine cent diner waiting for a green light
to imaginary highways
a cool breeze at the corner of insanity and greed
thumb a matchstick ride she arrives with a map to anywhere
passing piss-poor pickpocket dreams hanging from forgotten date trees
walled-in street glock's restless like a juiced hockey puck
buddy buy this enlightened watch real cheap
earl sheib’s gonna paint your teeth
tony robbins'll fleece your sheep
i love you america
rocky coasts of maine, mississippi
snowcap donner mountains
al capone, devil's post pile
blazing orange, vegas lit nights
fat burger, pink's hot dogs, jittery fake elvises
i love you America i just came back from overseas to remember why
BIO: Poet and musician Michael D. Amitin traveled the roads of the American West from California- east through the smoky burgs and train depot diners of Western Colorado, before moving to Paris, France in 2009 where he now lives.
Named International Beat Poet Laureate 2020-2021, Amitin's poems have been published in California Quarterly, Poetry Pacific, North of Oxford, PoetryontheLake, Love Love Magazine, Litterateurrw, and others.
A collaboration with Parisian photographer Julie Peiffer has given rise to "Riverlights" and can be found on Fb @ Riverlights. Amitin's poetry can also be discovered on FB and Instagram sites bearing his name.
