14 September 2023

Five Poems by Joshua Martin

Falsification Aquarium Dental Instrument

 

foamy echo & other fins

sneak through organs

stooped like tent poles

wearing dynamite

 

outside apprehensive tones

scattered ashen quantities

wallowing pinwheel grease

tapping Byzantine prunes

nearest floating curds

seldom a tarmac oven

breathing callous ink

 

parachute pine snails

beating colossal shrimp

while withering beards

uncover trachea delusions

 

submerged mantle

fishing scuba bear traps

warming lantern acoustics

 

microchip whining nested eggs

half-spun cinematic bluff

sheared unknown comedy thorn

scene by mythological kilt trap

ornery in sweltering door jambs

 

once likened sprain

hunted rabbit shifting

preaching thunder shrines

fling showboat fauns

drifting piecemeal galaxy

tundra of classical staples

 

dalliance shiver iron

best kept meandering

strapped kissing bounce

 

fish for a son-of-a-grift

 

boxing keyhole lawsuit

invading tawdry allusions

shredded horrific beans

upstart cobra zoot suit

 

riot squad makeshift jar

collapses best kept nuclear haircuts



Hunks of Slipper

 

aging mammoth & the rafter

having spoiled intake valve

handsome daylight darts

ducking out hole-in-one cone

 

          fumigating lizard porch swing fancy

          typhoon skeleton curfewed glove

 

                   handle for a scandal

                   fly-on-the-wall profit

 

solid as a pondering campfire

rigidly strangled hillside cakes

self-absorbed wholesale nostrils

 

                            vignette fading stream

                            radiation tunnel drawl

                            impose failed rackets

 

porridge sundial as it rises

locked stupefaction monsters

iris in on swallowing upheaval

straying notepad crocodile fiend 



Relentless Egalitarian Forks

 

When it rains golf ball handkerchiefs

the river bats an eyelid lobster scam

pristine as an axe symbolizing grunt

pushing daisies into hedonistic postures

all gaunt & straining incognito warts

gruff yet somber in shelf life

wandering knife party memorials

singing wary similes without credit

while positioned as stick figure puppy

guessing at wastepaper victories

tired muffled forsaken squirming

aluminum and all and persistent 

desire sings new wave possibilities

all schmaltz preening complexities

widely unread poetic universalism

screeching to halting purple frown

liquid as vegan clockwork hats

pouting manic breastplate functions

tied then loosed then warped

where the farmhouse adjusts static

 

 

Blasted hostage tracts

 

on charred notepads wither linguistic manatees

gesturing around the ballpark rental graphics

            subtle directed wingspan

            diabolical ringtone cruise

            shipping postal hurricanes

                              organs force hockey chants

                              harbors mistake arraignments

                              errand limiting doorstops



Belly Cannot Shade Paperclips

 

sphere trims the cauterized fables

fattened as an invitation

to a catacomb pageant.

                             mummified,

the many pointed thirsts

collide in unison before

antechamber skidding

                                     envelopes.

        muffle

and meanwhile,

               darting     in/out/

                        collide - - -

marble head lice

embalming relics - - -

                    (leering,

                      then fleeing)

without productive impulses

spinning gaseous pimples

scurrying industrial fumes.

                                          plead,

               at least less envious than

               laser blankets shifting

               impresario paranoiac

                                               metals.

bob and bob and shelter,

mercurial by sheets,

                           racked tongue

                           lacking tourniquet.

 

Joshua Martin