28.6.21

Two Poems by Joshua Martin

Against human resource


hot plate damage
fedora façade crummy
a crunch stimulating
aviation treatment
voice of the people
shattering friendship
against human resource
SCABS notified at the
end of fly trap truck
crashing dummy
listless as unfortunate
definitive cubed at last
catheter until catharsis

 

Tropical fish misadventure 

 
So badly bandaged as to resemble goat headed notary
shady to the nth degree
seemed like a tropical fish misadventure
an inexperienced karate instructor soaping himself in the moonlight
a never less
than inadequate
representation
of no! no! no!
leave me alone
                        as lousy as all political beliefs
                        conventional nightmare
                                                nighttime spread
                                                like balls of yarn
                                    spools of wigs
                                    simplified rationalizations
                                                            all the rage
            on the page
                        &
                        in the print edition seesaws
lunged to
stray bullet
death
settling for a scorching day in March fucked up
                                                            up! Up!
                                                                        UP!
                                                Silence
                                                slipperier than lullaby
                                                slippers
                                    you better not
                                    shampoo your back hair
                        if you know what’s
                                                what
                                                            WHAT?????
Seemingly as to wild snuggling closely to drugs
leaping submarine flypaper index finger
pinkie
            thumb!
there’s no on/off button
available for purchase
                        eel pants
            summer           chants
leave me                                  out
                        of the
            while               rotting
                        thing
as desultory as a
beehive
            having been cheated out of
            processional floral
                                    ARRANGEMENT
                        far from the
            UNmotivated
CROWN
                        darkness falls over the
                        city of never sleeping
                        brotherly angel charm
                                    golden state
                                                punishable
                                                by hanging
                                                traffic cones
                                                from
                        Nip nip
            NIPPLES
the governor looks out of place
talking as if he knows anything
a police quest for bashing
I never met a cop I liked
I have no situation to explain
& never once felt influenced
tho you can burn my skid marks
anyway & I’ll still never work
harder than a shovel scrapes


Joshua Martin