(Omar 1982)
(Omar 1982)
(Omar 1983)
A boy among men
In his skivvies watched
City which
Never slept,
-Super's first born, freed
-Association,
-Kid, satyr,
-Greek, man boy;
Cultures flake off walls,
Scuffed by soles, coat bare
Feet, swept up
In dustpan,
-Layers peeled back from
-First light's febrile dreams,
-Dried slurry
-Stiffening;
Tethered to boiler
Clicks, trash hauler wails,
Fumes from roach
Spray, PineSol,
-Cologne, cigarette,
-Beer head, gathered, bar
-Congregants'
-Pitched tones, spun;
Albanian vowels
Bruised, lamb, fowl, stewed, New
York syntax
Chewed, bones gnawed,
-Meat and potatoes,
-Blackboard, scoreboard, words
-Bored home, first
-Basement, seconds?
Forehead rubbing, robbed
Of anguish, blemish,
Streaking smudge
Souvenir,
-Skeletal seams braced,
-Face tapped, fault fractured,
-Plates shifting
- Each apart;
Larry's sneakers stride
Basement stairs, stop short
At mailbox,
Pedal off,
-Posted sentinel's
-Complicit notice
-Of comings
-And going;
Selves sung lockstep, night
Contained voyage out,
Worse for wear
Dodged shipwreck;
-Comber with keeper's
-Mien, left behinds
-Prized, dropped change,
-Lotto picks;
Triple planes, reversed,
Revered, reverted
To, ticket
Admittance,
-Omar's collective
-Breaths, lodged in doorframe,
-Lessen, held
-By pupil;
Detached regard, drill
Confident brandish,
Face off brims
Compliant,
-Crayon charts terrain,
-Lakes, elevations,
-Depressions,
-Thick forest;
Pipe played unravels
Basket sheltered snake,
Tongue flicking
Clench of teeth,
-Pried off, stowed behind
-Eyes, trusting child which
-Coats surly
-Teenager,
A feathers festooned
Frolic embodied,
Resulting
In stiff neck,
-Strands fingering tossed
-Off, brows, nose, mouth slashed,
-Peacock struts
-His plumage;
Mounted heads regard
Execution spelled
Out, body
Taken in;
-Unmoored survivor,
-Life raft sent adrift,
-Attuning
-The distance;
Generated heat
Disperses along,
Between, fuels
Compression,
-How to hold a hand,
-(Arms pinned), fingers to
-Wiggle out,
-Palm to read;
Sounds recall, squeaking
Cart rolled across, door's
Click, child's: 'Hot','
Adult's: '...hand...'
-Head contoured, edges
-Squared, light packed into
-Crayon box,
-Shadows cross;
Copy Larry, sleeves
Rolled, shirt unbuttoned,
Both hands stuck
In pockets,
-An American
-Gothic, pared, cousins,
-Pruned, their growth
-Spurts, pitted;
Special treatment shown,
Soccer jersey tugged,
Fingers left
To fidget,
-You turned thirty-six,
-Could conjure, exact
-Defining
-From within;
Safe to fall, failure
Moment's eclipse, pain
Polar bear
Ocean plunge,
-Face to sell, hard fought
-Fix made up, red dots
-And iced rocks
-Floating off;
Skeptic of rent-roll
Provenance, neck chained
Reliqu'ry,
Or flipped coins,
-Black out distractions,
-Pigment, linseed brushed,
-Absorbing
-Eloquence;
Guarded, carded, used
To bargain, win, when
Heated, to
Barge right in,
-Hands burdened, door kicked,
-Lights elbowed, things shed
-Across, oils
-Taken in;
That, left, launched back to
Father, bent, brother,
Blind, friends' brand
Addictions,
-Wet board's paint danced, pulled,
-Piloted over,
-Unfurled to
-Partner's lift.
4 August 2017