Joel Chace


Little Fool

wither got one word and a half              over the park’s gray fountain

aspen leaves               played by wind dark light green tricking 

two boulevards splay out toward the river              a drowning

last night body speaking silence              little fool 

a mile of parking meters            stoops a yellow awning 

 out of our million quarrels               twins death and rhetoric

                                               *******

broken beast spins on its hindquarters              as the car disappears

over a rise              price finally put on laughter

and on grief all about positioning              are their mics on

or has the swerve been calculated              nothing happens

if nothing collides              nerves or from the harbor 

rigging against masts              take your kettle off

                                               *******

cumuli shredded like maps              placing the pieces over eyes

a way only              girl springs up almost strikes her head

on the board her sister in the pool              screams Christ!

tomorrow wheels gone              engine parts scattered curb-side

mantises scuttle into margins              minstrelsy 

cakewalking              then both throw back their heads and laugh 

                                               *******

time of the uncanny              loosed by canny whisperings        

in a dried up creek bed              two boys kick over rotting

fence posts o red of the beloved’s dress              o mind’s

dagger              marshal phlox IED’s azaleas

swarms of yellow-jackets              come into focus 

like ghosts              yet improbable scatterings of seeds

                                               *******

Joel Chace has published poetry and prose poetry in print and electronic magazines such as 6ix, Tomorrow, Lost and Found Times, Coracle, xStream, and Jacket. He has published more than a dozen print and electronic collections. BlazeVox Books published his CLEANING THE MIRROR: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS, and from Paper Kite Press is MATTER NO MATTER, another full-length collection. From Country Valley Press is SCAFFOLD, the first part of an ongoing poetic sequence, (b)its, from Meritage Press, and A SCRIPT, from Otoliths Books. Forthcoming from Cy Gist Press is SHARPSBURG. For many years, Chace has been Poetry Editor for the experimental electronic magazine 5_Trope.
 
 
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