|
|
|
|
Best Poems From
LAURENCE OVERMIRE
|
|
| |
|
|
21.
|
Entrenched
In the trenches we wait
Rain pouring down
Our mud-soaked uniforms
Pasted to our bones
We wait
Puff on a cigarette
A deck of cards
A broken box
And a tin can meal
We wait
Passing the time
The bullets fly overhead
Occasionally
And sometimes we hear
The screaming
But most of the time
We block it out of our minds
And wait
Sleeping where we stand
Until someone gives the order
And its our turn to die.
(Previously published in The Hold, June 2003)
Laurence Overmire
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
22.
|
From the Ash
Had he had the great success
The comet blazing cross the silver screen
Never would this man have
Fallen
In sweet, bitter ash
Slow Deaths grim career
The self rising
At last
Of its own immortal will
Beholden to none
Measured in its constancy
The true heart
Finally able
A full voice
In perfect tenor
Confident and clear.
(Previously published in The Poet's Porch, Apr 2002)
Laurence Overmire
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
23.
|
Jesus In Sales
I dreamed Jesus was a salesman
In suit and tie
Briefcase in one hand
Cell phone in the other
Calling a client to close another deal
Standing in a boardroom
Preaching about how the meek would inherit
Nothing
And blessed be the greed-makers.
He changed all the water into wine
With a laugh and a sneer
Took a cruise on his yacht, stepped overboard
And just when it seemed he would walk on water
He sank.
Thank God or I would have lost all faith
In dreams.
Laurence Overmire
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
24.
|
Kerouac
Sounded the drum of his
Spent generation
Bobbity bomp bomp jazz me man
On the road without a home
War-orphaned
Drifting through the passing
Years
Nameless streets, forgotten bars
Lampposts dripping on dark corners
Hands to roll a cigarette
Words and women dropping in and out
Bottles to pour salvation
Soothing fire
In the cold flat of night
Eyes open and close
The music sassy, blue
Pounding
Surprising rhythms
Making it up
Beat by beat
As you go.
(Previously published in Pogonip, Apr.2000; Jack Magazine, Issue 1, Summer 2000)
Laurence Overmire
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|