aayoungattempting to not miss
a single word
i gather my apron to catch
boughs broken
his simmering wisdom
a towering redwood in our sanctuary
velvet timbre carving
yet i am lost
not absorbing a word he says
i have fallen into his crystalline eyes
which shall henceforth be referred to as
his crystal blue persuaders
.
sitting in his best
thinking chair
i saw his watchful owl eyes
wander in wonder over to the handle
of my beloved antique cane
leaning against the table
placed there deliberately to tempt him
.
we chirped and coo’d for over an hour
concerning
ancestry &
the lore of Rita Coolidge
Cherokee Angels of La Fayette
.
i had risen
having decided to take my leave
when the little indian boy inside him
nearly grabbed it from my hand,
proclaiming, “Lemme see your walkin’ stick!”
.
off to the races we go
him turning the length between his nimble fingers and thumbs
eyes widening at the shellac i’ve been chipping away at since the previous owner
had it camouflaged and refurbished
80 years before
him asking, “How old is it???”
the shillelagh is 150 years young
.
he asked me what tree ir came from
It’s Buckeye isn’t it??
i smiled into a knowing
yes, I guess
explaining it had also been copper tipped
to emit magnolia thunder
the metal being my favorite feature
.
i strike the floor like lightening
with my Buckeye twisted sword
casting spells
a medicine woman tricked by men from Holland 500 years
beads for a little bit of land to feed their pale mouthed children
.
he asked me who i got it from, the snake beginning to writhe in his hands
then immediately had a change of heart,
“no, you don’t have to tell me where you got it, that personal.”.
.
make no mistake
when i enter a room
i leave know doubt about
where in the world is
Boom Boom Bates
explaining i would tell him later…
.
i took it, RBB
i took it off a devil at a crossroads
in Casey County
to stop him from entering a little white country church
and thusly re-entering the kingdom of Heaven
an archway of plenary indulgence
after i shot him in the face in 1873
.
the Morningstar didn’t need it anymore
but i’ve been coming back every few decades or so
to see that he doesn’t enter
the Cumberland Gap
see,
the Ohio River to Jelico
is My Dominion
.
That’s all I’m gonna say about that.
The last thing we need is more Dogma,
Eh, Kevin Smith?
.
little polish boy
apple of his beautiful father’s
the product of pure love and his mother’s city chicken
grown up to be Saint Mikey: The Patron Saint of Cincinnati
the champion of every underdog
mike is a former catholic high school principal
who was fired for choosing love
he acknowledged a person’s gay marriage as valid
and he was crucified between to thieves for it
he lives in the top off a palace above a yellow bridge
early release for time served with the Catholic diocese
this man does more a week for this city in a week
than city council does in a year
president of his sweet baby James’s school board
he is an angel living on earth
his wings bounce as he runs 1,000 miles of our city
he met his wife during an act of pure love
he opened a free coffee for
loving birds of a feather to flock together
he loves his family more than any man i have ever seen
and his family is not just a beautiful redhead and a tiny octopus loving genius is crab socks
his family is the Queen City
Mike Moroski is more Cincinnati than a greased flying pig
and I want to run his mayoral campaign
he’s my brother from another mother
the only person I know sweeter than mike
is his cat eddie
and my his sweet english bulldog Biggie
I love you, Mike.
it’s not the stained glass windows
or the fancy new renovations
the impressive stacks
or the library fountain
no the most interesting things about
the cincinnati and hamilton county public library are
the amount of men masturbating at in the children’s library
the semen content in the library in more crusty and plentiful than the rare books
and the 2nd floor fountain on the second floor of the south building by the primary elevators
i once saw a man wash shit off his balls in the public water fountain because his cock wouldn’t reach the faucet in the bathroom of the once and future tech center
but the best thing was the day two homeless men were sucking each other’s yellow nailed fungus toes
in the information and reference section
let me tell you folks’
this was not a dainty toe
but i had never felt so….
informed
does my
bipolar disorder
make my ass look flat?
my father placed death upon my eyelids
as i slept
suicidal ideation applied
with a whipping belt
my lifelong pursuer
this was the year it all caught up
i began to do the blackest math
when i decided my life had no value
did you know
if you stand on the antique blue pedestrian walkway
of the Roebling Suspension Bridge
at the highest point in the middle
it is 100 feet from the base of the bridge falling
to the surging brown currents below
certainly enough to snap a neck upon impact
if one hit just so
blacked out avoiding
the drowning sensation of a body consumed by fire
as it is pulled into the undertow
you will consider
the duct tape needed to affix
your inadequate suicide note to the cold metal
of the wind swept bridge
however if you’re fortunate, you will fail
you won’t be able to bring yourself to jump
no matter how much you ache
refusing to inflict the same pain and betrayal
you’ll see the faces of everyone who loves you
as you throw your leg over the rail
if the shelves of hell are lined
with all the books
that should have been written
please know
there’s a big gaudy ass pink satiny lace volume
of poetry i didn’t write about you
sitting quietly in the
damn, but didn’t we have fun
section
just a man
drag off a cigarette smirk
a walking shell game
snake in a can
so backwards in life
one questions
reports of his death
yet
he would crookedly smile
calling it
legend
aayoung 