Unconditional surrender to geometry of calendar
Sentimental as derailed steam engine
You were once bribed into greatness
Now payback’s served – as customary – raw
Labyrinth of exploded coal mine echoes
Moans of deranged fool
Mental processing of oven baked goose
Old you now; told you so
Above the water just raises its head
What is it? Sea lion; hope of death
Roll up that news paper and tap
The face of a candidate for the party
You used to love on your knee trying
To keep up with the rhythms of ‘tide’s coming in’
Jazz reputation is a perishable product
And it goes down as trans-Atlantic linear
Although friends and family are to be thanked
For being rather Ciceronian when it
Came to exacting their revenge
Tried to laugh it off: what will the
Gentleman be having – a scandal on the rocks
Deprived of leisure and prestige
No ambassadorship to Vienna or Paris
You’re ferried to the Would Be island
Severe hedonist of winters past
Reduced to combing the beach for
Dreams and un-kosher clams alas
Emptiness expands over detected lack
Of self-interest unspeakable vice in the
Circles into which you fortunately no longer
Have access cities and centuries will be
Remembered last names and features
Of faces are conveniently interchangeable
Alex Damov is a poet from Woodinville, Washington. His work has been published in Hennen’s Observer, Eudaimonia Review, Earl Grey’s Overeasy, and in other places.
Copyright © 2012 by Alex Damov
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