three short poems by Larry Singleton

So I Poisoned My Neighbor

More than once I’m telling you
I told that sumbitch flat out
“Jus’ don’t do what your wife tell you.”

So one morning I look out and see
The new concrete driveway out back on his place
A good inch minimum on my property.
And every morning since,
While having my morning wake up smoke,
I greet the day grinding my teeth
Flat as flippin’ plates.

Next thing,
He builds an extra story on his place
With a steep roof on top of that.
Well good-bye to my view to the west
Those floral sunsets now replaced
By his butt ugly gray Typar.

So, one cocktail hour
Right on the edge of the new driveway
I set out this sissy gin drink
Salted rim, crushed ice, a little purple umbrella
Tilted just so.
I cloud it all with my special Machiavellian powder.
And that was that.

…

Seeking Love

A balding, unemployable, nearing sixty
Entrenched Prima Donna
With Microsoft Word skills,
Natural teeth
And a veneration for wilderness-

seeks

-A beautiful classical pianist
With hands like geese in flight,
Hopefully sporting an alcohol problem.
Or any kind of manic condition.
Both markers
Of a complex personality.

House cleaning,
Reading epic poetry aloud in bed,
Cradling nuanced Oregon pinot in fragile globes,
Dutch treat dining
Are priorities.

Fantastic sexual abandon is a likelihood
Until all that remains is myopic knowledge:
Sunsets are orange.
Sunrises are yellow.
Nothing more matters.

…

Wander and meander

Leave
Straight lines
To surveyors and engineers.
Meander and wander.
Wander and meander.

We don’t know where we are going
Nor will we ever ..
Nothing turns out
The way we expect.
Nothing goes straight from here to there.
Nothing worthy.

Get off the main roads…
Walk ridges
Follow game trails
Then follow no trails.
Imitate sniffing dogs
Who are never lost
Without as much as a hazy concept
Of where they are.

Getting lost.
Finding love.
Finding Icarus’ wings.
Flying and evolving.

Finding out what is behind the big curtain.
Discovery.
Discovery is synthesis in all thoughtful creatures.
Meander and wander onward,
Evolve outward.

…

Larry Singleton is working on being a full time drop out, especially economically. He spends most of his days wandering the hills west of Butte, trying to make sense of the 21st century which so far seems unknowable. Other than that, he is similar to how you might imagine him after reading these poems. He serves a mean bowl of Fijian kava now and again. Responses to Seeking Love may be sent to lorenzo06@bresnan.net or to the editors of this site for forwarding.