............
.........The Poetry Of.
.................................... Keir Delaney
...............
...............
............... Hard To Come By
................
................ There's an old pair of
............. slippers
............. I shuffle around in,
............. quilted, mostly threadbare,
............. still showing particles of red
............. that I wouldn't part with
............. for the world. That's the way it is
............. when things become so comfortable
............. so woven into dailyness
............. they're like a
............. second skin.
.............
................. I've never
....................... found a person
.............. felt like that.
.............
..............
..............
..............
..............
.............. Fitting And Proper
..............
.............. Mabel Semple
.............. Mercedes Law, had a ten dollar name
.............. and a jaw that jutted.
.............. Bandy-legged
.............. and eager,
.............. used to take the
.............. boys from the football team
.............. underneath the bleachers
.............. and do things that made their eyes show white
.............. the whole way round.
..............
.............. That jaw
.............. she wasn't born with
.............. grew from overuse.
..............
.............. I heard
.............. she died on the 5:02
.............. -heart attack, in Chicago
.............. outside of Soldier Field that filled with cheers
.............. just as the Bears scored on a punt.
.............. Though Mabel
.............. hated irony most of all,
.............. she had her humor. Would've
.............. loved that touch.
..............
..............
..............
..............
..............
.............. A Christmas Poem
..............
.............. Seems to me
.............. the world has more contentiousness
.............. than sense. It's in the blood.
.............. That's why I never
.............. cottoned to religion; bandaid stuck
.............. on a
.............. supperating sore.
.............. Pretty words and pretty music,
.............. even prettier buildings; plastic as a
.............. baby doll
.............. that has no holes for stink- it
.............. isn't real. It's not like every Sunday
.............. sitting in the pews-
.............. the fancy clothes, the waxy smell,
.............. the candle comfort, Jesus
.............. in the windows,
.............. eyes rolled up
.............. to a place
.............. we've never been, that makes us
.............. onward Christian soldiers, with our hearts
.............. as pure as
.............. silver
.............. -eyes rolled up
..............
.............. that's maybe why
.............. he doesn't see
.............. the billygoat
.............. lust
.............. that Elmer has
.............. for Joseph Pfeifer's twelve year old daughter
.............. Madeline, sitting next to him, allowing her knee
.............. to pull nervous music out of his long, hard thigh
.............. or why
.............. religion
.............. or a prissy savior couldn't foresee
.............. the way they'd find her
..............
.............. broken,
.............. bloody,
.............. lying in a culvert
.............. before Christmas comes again
..............
......................... and piney
.............. boughs
......................... nestle around a creche
..............
.............. while congregations
.............. sing of a beanstalk heaven
.............. hidden in the clouds, with a star
.............. to guide us.
..............
..............
..............
.............. Main Page
