Five poems from Poetry Cards, Series 3

for Lenore Kandel (1932-2009)

Lenore
Smiling
Gentle
Keeping her genius quiet
So that only a few knew
Her heart large
Her suffering long
Her patience endless
Her love unbreakable
Could never say no
Must have embraced death
Like a lover
My only sadness
That the new joys she’s found
Will never be told
To us
In yet another poem

By Gerald Nicosia

Bloody Love
all my loves have gone away

only my demons show devotion

they’re always arriving

w/ a bouquet of dark horns

to pierce my heart

By Rob Plath

Images by Patti Smith
Mundane objects imbued
with deep, personal meaning:
Bolano’s writing chair,
Hesse’s decrepit writing machine,
Virginia Woolf’s tarnished
walking stick,
Jim Carroll’s narrow, single bed,
Fred Smith’s recovered childhood toy;
all their owners gone. A woman
with a camera remembering.

By Alan Catlin

WHY IS YOUR MOUSTACHE SHORTER THAN THE REST OF YOUR BEARD?
I woke up
with a split lip
a busted nose
and no memory
Dried blood
congealed
and matted
in my moustache
The bastard stuff
wouldn’t shift
without ripping
hair from root
Another day
on the front line
in the war
against myself

By Martin Appleby

WITHOUT A THREAD
The next time I saw Eddie
he said to me
‘Fuck man!
I’ve never woken up
amongst so many
fucked up naked bodies
in one apartment
and when some drunken
clown rang your
door bell at 4am
and you got up and
answered the door
not knowing or
caring who it was
without a thread on
I knew why some
call you ‘Long John’
‘Trick of the light’
I said smiling,
‘make it a Jim Beam’
‘Okay’ Eddie said.

By John D Robinson

 

The POETRY CARDS are published by Holy&intoxicated Publications. The third in the series came out in April.

Each edition features five poets. In the new edition three of the poets are well-established figures from the US:
Gerald Nicosia is the author of Memory Babe: a critical biography of Jack Kerouac – “the definitive work on the life and writings of Jack Kerouac.” He has been called a “poet of extraordinary depth’ who “has been blessing the literary underground for 3 decades.”

Rob Plath has been a presence on the underground poetry scene for over 25 years. He has published poetry all over the world and has many chapbook publications to his name. “A poet of tough versatility: simply put, quality.”

Alan Catlin has also been a presence on the underground poetry scene for many years and has published over 60 chapbooks and full-length books of prose and poetry; his poetry appears all over the world. “A poet that can reach clear across the boundaries with ease.”

The other two are up-and-coming poets from Hastings:
Martin Appleby is the publisher of Paper & Ink Zine. Some of his poetry has been collected in Worse Things Happen At Sea: Selected Poems. His work appears widely in the small press and online literary journals. “Martin Appleby is a much needed new poetical voice. Here are poems from the margins, poems from the cultural hinterland, poems from unrequited lovers of the world.”

John D Robinson is the publisher of Holy&intoxicated Publications. He has published two chapbooks of poetry: When You Hear The Bell, There’s Nowhere To Hide and Cowboy Hats & Railways. His work appears widely in the small press and online literary publications. “A poet, a hard read, a visceral read, with no pretty images, in other words, no bullshit.”

 

Also in: Poetry

« Poems by Brian Docherty
Poem by Bruce Nicol »