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Best Poems From
LAURENCE OVERMIRE
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301.
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Mr. Beene
He shuffles in
like he’s walking on flypaper
each step sticks on the carpet
and only with laborious effort can he
heave his weight forward and
manage yet another.
When finally he sits down
he cranks his neck over his shoulder
and with the lifting of an eyebrow
signals the usual to the bartender:
a double scotch on the rocks.
As the minutes pass into oblivion
the skin hanging from his bones
eyes glazed, hands trembling
some wasted satisfaction
an elusive pleasure
creeps into the hollows of his face
curling uncomfortably in a comatose smile
the years of pain
obliterated
in the dull, unconscious vacancy
of a half-empty
glass.
(Previously published in The Hold, Jan 2005)
Laurence Overmire
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302.
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Mt. Rushmore (senryu)
Rushmore's peering heads
wisdom in a granite brow
questions for the mutes
Laurence Overmire
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303.
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My Lai
I didn’t want to do it, really I didn’t
But what was I gonna do
We didn’t know who was who
Did we? Did we?
No, you couldn’t tell, they
Booby-trapped us all the time
Women and children too, it was war
You know, there weren’t any rules
Someone said shoot and we shot
That’s all there was to it
Fire, grenades whatever we had
It wasn’t like we knew what we were doing
No one knew. No one. No one
Could tell us anything. The generals
They didn’t know. What the hell were
We doing there anyway?
You. You look at me that way.
But you couldn’t tell me either.
You couldn’t tell me nothing.
Could you?
(Previously published in ZZZ Zyne, #38, Feb.2003)
Laurence Overmire
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304.
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Narrow Crossing
The cross rises out of the high ground
Above the freeway, like a mighty white
Sword stabbed provocatively into
The bosom of the heartland
Looking down with righteous indignation:
The thousands of Buddhists, Muslims
Atheists and Jews, Hindus and
Agnostics who
Bravely make their way
Albeit uncomfortably
Through the narrow passages of hypocrisy
Toward the beckoning horizon
…of an American dream.
(Previously published in Lynx: Poetry from Bath, England, Issue 14, Feb 2000)
Laurence Overmire
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