John Conway 1 January 2019

       

             (John Conway 1981)

                      (Self-portrait 1981)



I'm flipping through a
Manila folder's
Clinical
Notations,
     -I'd asked for some type
     -Of drawing paper,
     -Got a small,
     -White, square, sheet;
Sitting across from
A thirty-one year
Old, newly
Admitted,
     -Left hand steadied sheet,
     -Right studied bottom
     -Reckoning
     -Perspective;
Male resident, with
Prior psychotic
Episodes,
Diagnosed
     -Inmate hung bootleg,
     -Haunted poster on
     -Production
     -Line railing;
Manic-depressive,
An alcoholic,
'Distraught,' low
Self-esteem,
     -Trance blinked eyes reclaim
     -From fine-tooth combing,
     -Gold, to mud,
     -To saddle;
Height, weight, vital signs;
Medications; blood
Work; observed
Behavior,
     -Sobbers and saviours
     -Mined seams with pickaxe,
     -Stripping out
     -Physical;
Empirical lob,
Coordinated
Hand to eye
Precision,
     -Scrawled, empathetic
     -Conceit abandoned
     -Restraint's glossed
     -Refinement;
Confined within boxed
Self-definition
Jettisoned
Allowance,
     -Dissonance ravaged
     -Face, rendolent of
     -Feverish,
     -Nightmare sweats;
Screened fenestration
Wagered emotive,
Internal
Combustion,
     -Diurnal, guidebook
     -Imprimatured, plunge
     -Struggled in
     -Surfaced pain;
Sluggish brain paddled
Hockney pool deep end,
Naked, an
Afterthought,
     -Figured in, safer
     -Thought than drowning, head
     -Held beneath
     -By unknowns;
Cold turkeyed liquor's
Bloated encumbrance,
Wrung out the
Welcome mat,
     -Endured extended
     -Stay's reduced playlist,
     -Tepid by
     -Pet Shop Boys;
Rapid rejoinder
Bets the farmed out tones'
Collective
Enhancement,
     -For whom the ghouls gel,
     -Phantoms liquify,
     -With pulp art
     -Conviction;
Staff dereliction
Curbed therapeutic,
Creative
Impulses,
     -Beatific curled
     -Sub rosa, compelled
     -By Attic
     -Ritual,
The Hippocratic
Brotherhood enshrined
Afflatus
As sacred,
     -Lines raked, lateral
     -Passes of bare hand
     -Through breaths shared
     -Atmosphere;
Plans aired from dumpster
Papered over the
Currents from
Corpuscles,
     -Plein air surrendered
     -To cellar's ankles,
     -Spotlights on
     -Paint chipped chair;
Subterranean
Grate glimpsed filmstrip stalled
Between stops,
Hot shoe flashed,
     -Blue transposition
     -Mapped white ground, umber
     -Fronts traipsed through
     -Refraction,
Overhead, penlights
Studied reaction
On PERRLA
Rotation,
     -Sclera billeted
     -Abstract dilation,
     -Cranium
     -Globular;
Dabbling dilettant
Where fluid, challenged,
Overturned,
Undercut,
     -Gangplank shimmied, as
     -Drift fluctuated,
     -Plucked peacock
     -Feather, blood;
On wing and a prayer
Attack hit the mark,
Side effects
Supperate,
     -Free edge permeates
     -With dried arrangement,
     -Cure naive
     -Corroded;
Relief heralded
When cartographer's
Perspective
Exacted,
     -Tea leaves read- mountain,
     -Journey of hindrance-
     -Bracketed
     -'Ascetic';
Travel light, wearing
Leather boots with thick
Soles, compass
In pocket,
     -Use diuretic,
     -To piss on all the
     -Naysayer
     -Travelers.

1 January 2019



 

   

   

 
 

     

   
   

Peter Groby 30 October 2018

         
                       

                       (Peter Groby, 1981)


Gone, oblivious
To dank smell, waste pipe
Gush, swept off
Paper stock,
     -Blocked out, curious
     -To blot up, absorb
     -The hunger
     -With bone-in;
Honed in on shoreline
Picnic, jellied tongue
Infused with
Sweet, sour,
     -Salt tingled nostrils,
     -Charred smoke updraft bit,
     -Adding a
     -Dry heat quip;
Turkey, kosher brined,
Maple drizzled hits
Fruitwood chips
Of smoker,
     -Partakers noshed bird,
     -Complexion pallor
     -Crisped, bored through
     -Liquor clear;
Lobster marinade
On butterflied tails
Sea changed by
Waves of flame,
     -Blue and red, jacquard
     -Weave, inverted skiff,
     -Bark-in-chic
     -Wrap-around;
Grilled filet mignon
Rounds, mushroom, red wine,
Minced garlic
Reduction,
     -(Earlobe, vestibule,
     -Earlobe); (Earlobe, chin,
     -Earlobe); (Chin,
     -Vestibule);
Rib comestibles'
Dry rub fingering
Webbed bones and
Cartilage,
     -Forest interval:
     -Floor; understory;
     -Childhood loss
     -Foreshortened;
McIntosh apples
Peeled, cored, chopped, water,
Cinnamon,
Sugar: sauce,
     -Puttered along blue
     -Canal, dropped anchor
     -To walk the
     -Pristine sands;
Diced, cooked, potatoes,
Bacon, red onions;
Vinegar,
Sugar, oil,
     -Rigorous toil melds

     -Pantry basics through
     -Sensory
     -Baptism;
Flour, water, yeast,
Salt, honey, oil; sec,
Blanc, delved, roiled,
Scraped from bowl,
     -Borne on page, colored
     -Markers tag behind
     -Figuring
     -It all out;
Leaven relieved prone
Favoring basalt
Beige, putto
In deft hands,
     -Socket perceived bones
     -Spooled perforations,
     -Scoring real
     -With pared off;
Punched down to prayer rug,
Allah met rising
From prostrate
Confinement,
     -Glanced resolve conveyed
     -Delineations,
     -The substance
     -Justified,
Proved, provocation
From fungus dissolved
Fostered at
Gut level,
     -Whites crescent, the yolks
     -Wobble, specks absorb-
     -Tarred, feathered-
     -Impressions;
Fully baked bread tapped
Hollow, crust dark brown,
Top without
Depressions,
     -Duly provisioned,
     -Potsticker cheeks burst
     -Sentience, smirk,
     -Sauciness;
Mouthful reticent
With butter slathered
Waiter's crumbs
On guest check,
     -'You're hot. Call me.' Tip
     -Piled on to impress,
     -A bathroom's
     -Inked cartoon;
Jotted in balloon
After his butt had
Been groped while
Serving food,
     -Leveraged him nude-
     -The ass, the cheek, the
     -Revolving
     -Pepper mill;
The twist of fate to
Shakespeare's calling, or
Chef's, prep cook's,
Caterer's,
     -Pool depth laborer
     -Rubbed epidermis
     -Of bather
     -With suntan;
Stove, oven, walk-in,
Confinement stymied
Equity
Investors,
     -Cosmetologist,
     -Applied permanent,
     -Chalked up to
     -Passing hive;
Firmament apprised
By forkfuls meted
Out, paired with
Wine tastings,
     -Twombly worm castings
     -Wigged out color field
     -That Rothko,
     -Figured out;
Gristle pig cruller
Coughed up frog legs, a
Skeletal
Hunger pang,
     -Keratin, mottled,
     -Beard, unlined sleeve rolled
     -Inside out,
     -Gangly grunge;
Spinning top rattles
Pot's steel grey armor,
Pressuring
Green, yellow,
     -Underpinning sketch
     -Impulsively took
     -Crayon swiped
     -Red, yellow.

31 October 2018

   




   














 
    

Stuart 4 September 2018

            

                           (Stuart 1983)


James ascribed sitting
For Sargent wouldn't
Convey a
Basement seat,
     -First brush, prep school clean
     -Largesse, smelling of
     -Freshly mowed
     -Soccer fields;
More storage room, paint
Cans, canvases, an
Easel, cups,
Piled papers,
     -Blue swept out, Cape Cod
     -Barometric high,
     -Salt water
     -Wake surfer;
Two draws, two exhales,
Made distinctions clear
In your head,
In your mouth,
     -Subliminal, if
     -Fingers led skin to
     -Skin, nothing
     -From your mouth;
'Hold,' always, 'Hold,' or
'Give it up,' stretched back,
Prepared for
Coverage,
     -Nair™ on subterfuge
     -Accreted blush tones
     -On jock's strapped
     -Testament;
Sentiments proudly
Commandeered in time,
Disbelief
Bunkered sides,
     -Drank in starched, ironed
     -Cotton left to ride
     -Daredevil
     -Bike's freefall;
Shirt's a shirt, hiked, tucked,
Have to wear something
More formal
Than t-shirt,
     -'Streetcar,' or 'Rebel,'
     -Confrontational,
     -Brando, or
     -James Dean, T's;
Okay for gym class
As a kid when school
Issued, or
Weekend sports,
     -Compositional
     -Weakness courted if
     -Yellows, blues
     -Unaffirmed;
Dermatologist,
Doctor, dentist, home,
Cross-country,
Tomorrow,
     -Dark brown, gold, corn floss,
     -Carded tendrils, brushed
     -Furrowless,
     -Pale forehead;
Told I should read more,
Look at art, chalk up
Failures to
Rushing things
     -Pushing swings into
     -Blue contrivance, sky's
     -The limit
     -When boxed in;
Pugilist prowess
Theoretical,
Contact plays
On team sports,
     -Fixed exhortation
     -Categorical:
     -Wordless, speaks
     -For someone.

4 September 2018







   

Michael Misove 6 August 2018

                  (Michael Misove, 1983)

Rumpled pulled on Cheer,
Malboros, sweat, to
Sit across
From slurper,
     -Percolated dregs
     -Scalded throat, binder
     -Swirled powder
     -Coated folds;
Residue taken
Up for scrutiny,
Sleeves rolled to
Pelted arms,
     -Which crayoned hairline,
     -Broadened neckline seam,
     -Provoked the
     -Palpable;
Probably weighed the
Same in the service,
'Til revoked,
And thrown out,
     -No anchors aweigh
     -In crackerjack and
     -Dixie cup,
     -Full dress mast;
Discharged: corrupting
Nuts to butts recruits,
Top bunk raised
Bottoms up,
     -Stroke by stroke stacked up
     -Shots across the bowels,
     -Wipeable
     -Tracery;
Sent back broke, luggage
Collected, letter's 
Content flawed,
Bedraggled,
     -Drawing ground muddied,
     -Ventral plane, swerved from
     -Mired, heads
     -Toward safe berth;
Dust to dust, subtle
Accumulation
Results in
Pyramid,
     -Pictogram, ghostly
     -Motes sloughed, dry on dry,
     -Deliver
     -Gravity;
Pontifications
On fall of man from
Pulpit, draped,
Cassock, stole,
     -Man-a-dressed, culprits
     -Thrashed- or succored- their
     -Declensions
     -Heard through stalls;
Sonorous foibles
Curdled pre-pubic,
Bunched, gonad
Lollipops,
     -Tootsie roll centers,
     -Sticks rubbed together,
     -Chalked: 'Veni,
     -Dick, Veni;'
Locker bench wedgies,
Towel snappings, Bengay™
Pranks, shower
Coercions,
     -Dragged out changings, soap
     -Bar lingerings, steam
     -Clouded, dream
     -Sequences;
Boys of the faithfuls'
Nakedness clerics
Took in stride:
Edenic,
     -Good padres froliced
     -Where indigenous
     -Apples halved,
     -Serpents coiled;
Boiled pink, paraded
By tradition: Nam
Ceteri
Homines,
     -Greco submissive,
     -Roman communal,
     -Soldiering
     -Brotherhood
Picked apart, 'Czeched out,'
'Cemetery worm,'
'Mike Missolved,'
'The Gherkin,'
     -Larry StandOn, 'Down!'
     -Cornered on playground,
     -Natural
     -In art class;
His 'other' son, 'Up!
Take your nose out of
That book, and
Help me here,'
     -Whelped in fear, blow ups,
     -Unreliable
     -Calm spells, gun
     -Threatening;
Battened down orphan
Bereft, her lemon
Rose stems bent,
Petals strewn,
     -Merciless nettles
     -Festooned coffin's bones,
     -Disfigured,
     -Left jaundiced;
Ashes crossed sailors'
Foreheads, sunflower
Parlor lent
To stewards,
     -Subterranean
     -Towhead sight-read his
     -Likenesses
     -From blank sheets;
Muscle covered could
Pass in Kingston, trick
At Charlie's,
Downtown South,
     -West Village sketcher
     -In Delhi pasture
     -Crayoned lads
     -A milkin';
Aged beyond twink speak,
Circuit black, circled
Back in case,
Last call flashed,
     -Toilet flushed, rust smelled,
     -Night's paint drying stars,
     -Pairs formed in
     -Bars converged;
Soloists upstaged
By chorus purged from
Russian tome
Operas,
     -War and Peace drumbeat:
     -Swollen glands, lesions,
     -Plagued soldiers
     -On the march;
Store, and lease, lumber
Built reliquaries,
Bric-a-brac
Monetized,
     -Proselytising
     -In SoHo, Holly
     -Window shopped
     -Backs to bricks;
Black and white postcard,
Man reading a book
In profile,
Bryant Park,
     -Crayoned, block letters,
     -Colored in blue sky,
     -Ocean, the
     -Horizon.

6 August 2018

   



   



   
 
 

Bill Olson 4 June 2018

                        

                        (Bill Olson 1982)


Poet's amusement
Park, roller coaster
Rides exhault
The physics,
     -Coming attractions!
     -Bagged nuts, hot dogs, buns,
     -Of epic
     -Proportions;
Bedsheet togas strung
As sails launch the bed
Aiming for
Amore,
     -Where swells lapped gently
     -By men who feasted
     -On manna
     -Ferried in;
Mapplethorpe altered
Succulent ribs eyed,
And slender
Youths' nipples,
     -Harpooned at Mineshaft,
     -Dug up, reburied
     -On Meatrack
     -Cul-de-sacs;
Pistil nectar leaks
Lavished sunlit glints
On suitors
In hindsight,
     -Glute orbs streak across
     -Waves which licked groyne in
     -Littoral
     -Transgression;
Promontory climbed,
Clefts rappelled, inner
Sanctum found
Tightly sealed,
     -Peep show cred, shutter
     -Operated by
     -Poker faced
     -Diplomat;
Bread route conditioned
Drill, pull expired,
Load in fresh,
Hit the next,
     -Laid out as ballpoint
     -Penned on toilet stalls,
     -Two downturned
     -Bowls, drain, pipe;
Promiscuously
Poised to unburden
Lust, not list
Tacking port,
     -Of call, the head, hot
     -Circulating porn
     -Thumbed atop
     -Porcelain,
Meissen collective
Thrall objectifies
The vessels
Surrendered,
     -Stir solidified
     -Member's engagement,
     -Upshot, no
     -Unwinding;
Spreadsheet flipped, hard news
For back page features,
Those remarks
Recanted,
     -Base notes decanted
     -Narcotic tunnel
     -Swum blind to
     -Penetrate;
Calibrate the growls
To pain, to pleasure,
Covet wolf's,
Sheep's clothing,
     -Guttural fleshed out
     -Dramatic function,
     -Bones thrown what
     -Motivates;
Legs lofted, eyes trained,
Vestige ignited
Scalds even
Intrepid,
     -Holds receptive to
     -An incipient,
     -If swaddled,
     -Violence;
Quicker, compliant
Dabblers dipped their toes,
Only to
Be aroused,
     -Faster, lines-in-sand
     -Defenses grabbed hold,
     -Clothes exchanged
     -Descending;
Rearrangement's block
Type ironed labels
Chafed against
Exposed skin,
     -Secondhand frocks tripped
     -Keel uneven, soon
     -Aground, cox
     -Importuned;
Flipped, foundered, towed to
Lighthouse beacon, its
Keeper in
Oilskin bib,
     -3 ct circumf'renced
     -Propeller sped through
     -Hollows, now
     -Live socket;
This outlet followed
Toward conflicted end,
Pleasure, pain,
Commingled,
     -Double-dipper drenched
     -In cross-train sweat, benched,
     -Should I have
     -My pants cuffed?

4 June 2018



   
   
   
 







   
   





   


               

Duncan Tucker 20 February 2018

                   (Duncan Tucker 1981)


Drawings blanket walls,
Faces plastered, teeth
Receded,
Nails rebuffed,
     -Lessons suspended,
     -Close friends sustained in
     -Solution,
     -Flailing, felled;
Muses ascending,
Illuminated
In sofer's
Transcription,
     -By your rendition,
     -Boys bared Pilgrim souls
     -When cruised in
     -Ninth Circle;
Boots lined corridor,
Jeans gathered at their
Ankles, locked
Inside stalls,
     -No soles exposed, their
     -Privates showcased, knobs,
     -Prodigious,
     -Dialed carnal;
Bodies purged on seats,
Remnants porcelain
Slid, scuttle
In pee soup,
     -He squeezed elixir
     -From key tubes fielding
     -Colors to
     -Propagate;
Uninstalled, addicts
Ambulate among
Circumscribed
Partisans,
     -Brush flicks, primary
     -Yielding nuanced, some
     -Departures
     -Backpedalled;
Tweaking arrivals
Absolved, collegiates
Calibrate
Favor hits;
     -A conscious, turnstile
     -Embarkment; sub, sluice
     -Gate fluid
     -Accretion;
Bartending dealers
Pour libations, juice
Markup cue
Sticks wielding,
     -Lore's assignations
     -Dowse beneath fishbowl
     -Collective
     -Pissings on;
Balls of equal size
Kissed through completion
Of stroke, read
The rule book,
     -Spine cracked sissy boys'
     -Vellum thumbed over
     -Felt's velvet,
     -Cushioned, bed;
Balls pressed together
So that they each have
Contact with
The other,
     -Surgically taped,
     -Tethered to curtained
     -Rod, abridged
     -Edition;
Corner-hooked, when shaft
Makes call shot, pockets
Balls, dollars
On table,
     -Quick earner's life raft,
     -Commodity trade,
     -Booked on site
     -Transactions;
Third shift transitions
Astride cab's bench seat
With enough
Room for all,
     -Hallucinations,
     -Dreams, stuff, jotted down,
     -Pocketed
     -To read out;
Cased, made up, tricked out,
Squared, butched up, worked out,
Vanity

Productions,

     -To audience of
     -One paid to listen,
     -Reflecting
     -Empathy;
Slide out, one foot in
Cab, one on sidewalk,
Drivers' eyes
Offer tips,
     -Visualised as
     -Echoed, unfolding
     -On the walls,
     -Then erased;
Believers strut, bones
Walked, swayed by grace notes,
Elisions,
On bootlegs,
     -Sneakers deprived in
     -Lotus position,
     -Blunt pencil
     -Stub foisted;
An over the top
Art performance done
On site to
Get bookings,
     -Headlamp's allowance,
     -Headlight's conveyance,
     -Strafe, resolve
     -Aperture;
Embroidered slit switch,
Avoided deep throat
Admissions,
Traveled light,
     -Coffees set down, sketch
     -Book slid, jacket stowed,
     -Night's slick borne
     -To shy glance;
Wife beater, muscles,
Embellished macho,
Monster, shrunk,
Impactful,
     -Athlete's white, crew socks,
     -Aesthete's crayon box,
     -Truncated
     -Game pieces;
'Take out the faggot!'
Drive-by Jersey males
Jump tank-top
Outside bar,
     -Unnatural voids
     -Teeter triptych, drunk
     -Outliers

     -Wage skirmish;

Mini-skirted, pink
Wigged, handbag swinging
GeorgeHeGirl
Beats off males,
     -Paint to voice, poet's
     -Words a consciousness
     -Streamed through oils
     -On canvas;
Domicile transferred,
Rearview mirror, mail
Forwarded
Reminders,
     -Loafers for sneakers,
     -Stiff soles cross polished
     -Hardwoods of
     -Designers.

     

20 February 2018









   




   

Omar and Mirsad 4 August 2017

              (Mirsad and cousin 1983)

                             (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