Jay Passer


para la vista, mon amour

balked at the 
Empire State

skirted the 
Eiffel Tower

never been to 
Burj Khalifa

ditto 
Fernsehturm and
Tokyo Skytree

Abraj Al Bait 
a figment of whimsy
 
Namsan Mountain
like a fanciful dream

but there's nothing like the
Space Needle
in the rain 

"I couldn't see a thing!"

observation deck charge: 
$35 a pop.

 

feng shui kaput

behind the back
                              on crutches
late for work
                              falling downstairs
plucked from
                              ancient cowhide
faking sleep
                              despite birdsong
born to peasants
                              after the slap
caught jerking
                              garlic frying
in heinous debt
                              beyond intrigue
wounded wing
                              from poking phoenix
in hapless chase
                              dressed raggedly
dropping dead
                              irrespectively bound
uncannily inept
                              provoking peril
in the midst of
                              at a loss for
feng shui kaput
                              in quietude

Jay Passer's work has appeared in print and online since 1988. Author of 12 poetry and prose collections, he is widely published digitally, most recently in Don't Submit!, Horror Sleaze Trash, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Fixator Press, and Piker Press. He's been employed as a dishwasher, barista, cook, warehouseman, courier, house painter, pet sitter and mortuary apprentice. Passer lives and works in San Francisco, the city of his birth.

 
 

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