Cover art by Zoé Gruni. Photo courtesy of Ela Bialkowska OKNO Studio.
Second Amendment Forklift Faceoff
god family country, she bellows
her dilapidated door fronting heaven
needing wd-40, creaks
inside a sign trumpeting right to bear arms
slumps on her palev lizard wall
stumped the analyst this
with a zen survey cradled in his arms
his mind wide open
like the conservatory roof
unveiling starlit nights
…andromeda whispers
breathe as you go
here on this fog swept april eve
it’s an assault on life and liberte
for unsuspecting youths
roaming daydream playgrounds
fuck this
lame-ass prayer jive
get off your lazy rich asses politico’s
those stained dollars ain’t worth a dime
in the land of juicy karma charm
to allow this zorro dollar dance to continue
one more dried drop of kid-folk blood
on flowering schoolyard days
it all echoes hollow as a junkie’s vein
huff puff-a-ling at the cracked militia doing the
michigan stomp
tom tom baton twirlers cheering
five year old rat-a-tat Nat
drooling at the root-a-shoot boot rot
fucking a target camp
as the ghost of veronica lake dances with the snakes
in the silent holy graveyard nights
*
mata hari swirling hare krishnas in
geisha night square pools
my rust broken eyes glued
to any resurrection
sunset flesh inflections
red jazz night
archbishop resets his mind over
st emilion wine
cars rush by
saintly patience
where are you tonight
“The Exquisite Relief of Alphonse” or “Fuck the Alps”
february, lemmings scurry up powder mountain
snort blue air
dip fine wine firelight boogie
very-white shapely sloped alps
ski vacation it’s called here
foggy town paris
the poor stick around, stocking
grocery store shelves, sweeping rue de funk
afterhour sip the slippery slopes of alley cheap booze
keep your powder dry
store king hollers
over zoom gloom
to the working crew
alphonse takes a horse-size piss
scratches his
daily double, lady luck
shines him a quarter moon
over three cent town –
takes another shot and says
fuck the alps
Poet and musician, Michael D. Amitin travelled the roads of the American West from California- east through the smoky burgs and train depot diners of Western Colorado, where he lived before moving to Paris, France. Recently 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, Litterateur, and others. A current collaboration with Parisian photographer Julie Peiffer has given rise to the “Riverlights” project. and can be found at Riverlights.art
