AL FERBER

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The Poetry Of...
Al Ferber...............................................................

Armies Of The Night

I am hunted by
the armies of the night
I am chasing my own tail
like a crazed kitten
in circles getting nowhere
accomplishing nothing
the armies of the night
have enlisted the aid
of conscripts from enemy
camps that specialize
in bloodlust brainsuction
I am taunted by the red
eyes of the armies of the
night flashing at me
from behind closed doors
through open windows
through knotholes in trees
they are numberless like
the Russians and Chinese
they come in tidalwaves
of inhuman anger relentless
in their movement leave me
nowhere to hide they strip
my dreams of music and color
because once as a boy
before I knew the intimacy
of fear I engaged them
in battle in the park and
crushed them with the
bottom of my sneaker

Bland Upon Bland

I was last seen
vagrant
in conduct
of an inventory
of the box lunch
I call my life
the daily bologna
sandwich staring me
in the face
forced me to admit
I had indeed once
said I liked
and thus could
not complain
having sealed
my own fate
the carefully wrapped
slice of pound cake
called out to a now
estranged classmate
who accepted
and ate it greedily
on an all too
regular basis
no chips
no chocolate
bland upon bland
nothing crisp
nothing sweet

Columns

columns are no match
for the harsh persistence
of the elements
of god
of eternity
they collapse over
years over centuries
over my dead body
over my sorry ass
eroded grain by grain

by crude winds hard rains
extremes in temperature
the cruelty of the sun
one column turns back
to look at its history
and is turned to salt
melted away by the first
shower mist or fog

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