20170620

David Lohrey



No Rest for the Wicked


It is not only work that is part of the punishment.
I am dying for a cup of coffee but only have instant.
Mother says the recipes cannot be found in a cookbook.
What gives country singers their radiant smiles?

I’ve put 3 calls into “We Care” but nobody answers.
It is not only work that is part of the punishment.
She made him hang up whenever I called him.
Why won’t they pick up at the suicide hotline?

He was brain dead for weeks but his heart wouldn’t stop beating.
Mother kept asking questions but didn’t like his answers.
It is not only work that is part of the punishment.
Why do people cry when they listen to music?

I rushed in but father had died before I could reach him.
She thought I was a burglar and screamed for the day nurse.
What do the dramas on television teach us?
It is not only work that is part of the punishment.

His funeral was cancelled because the earth was still frozen.
His brother demanded two priests from the Catholic archbishop.
She invited singers and dancers with pompoms and sparklers.
He was cremated and placed in an urn from a Japanese toy store.

It is not only work that is part of the punishment.



David Lohrey grew up in Memphis. His poetry can be found in Otoliths, Sentinel Literary Quarterly, Easy Street and New London Writers. In addition, recent poems have been anthologized by the University of Alabama (Dewpoint), Illinois State University (Obsidian) and Michigan State University (The Offbeat). Work can also be found in The Stony Thursday Book (Limerick) and Hidden Channel Zine (Mall Sligo). David is a member of the Sudden Denouement Literary Collective in Houston. Recent fiction can be read in Crack the Spine, Brilliant Flash Fiction and Every Writer. He teaches in Tokyo.
 
 
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