i would run

i would run, girl
these skinny legs in flight
but not in fear of you
or your smoky dank parlor past
nor the mutated double helix
     hanging like a fly strip
     corkscrewing your future into oblivion
i run from fear
of what i would do

once ashtrays overflowed
the remnants now
long given to cold wind

to think i once slept
in the grotto of
your feral heart

to think i once believed

instead you offered
sanctuary
like a crack-sniffing pale ghost
warring on the rain-soaked pavement of streets
where factories failed

this is the flaw
this
the life sentence

 

check out dan's new book:

PAGAN SUPPER - Pudding House Publications.
• review by michael basinski •

Slipstream reviews with
michael baskinski:

• Number 20. 2000
• Number 21. 2001
• Number 22. 2002

Slipstream Press announces the winner of the 15th Annual Poetry Chapbook Competition with the release of WHAT LANGUAGE by J.P. Dancing Bear. The chap is filled with rich, honest, and well-crafted poems lifted from life experience which offer the reader fresh insights and lingering images. (40 pages; $7.00 from Slipstream, Box 2071, Niagara Falls NY 14301). Visit Slipstream Press for further information and details.

ALSO: Slipstream #22 is now available from the same address for $7.00. It features the poetry, fiction, and photography by 50 writers, poets, and artists including Liza Porter, Gerald Locklin, Lyn Lifshin, Robert Cooperman, Vincent Tortora, David Hernandez, Dan Sicoli, Catfish McDaris, Donna Michele Hill, Livio Farallo, David Chorlton, Norman J. Olsen, Serena Fusek, Dory Adams, Johnny Cordova, Sarah Freligh, and Martin Vest.