

ahhhhh,
there's nothing
like dunking 
a fat chunk
of biscotti 
into the steam
of a laundromat
vent,
I try to take it
straight up, I eschew
raw sugar or cremora
on account
of some bad teeth, I chew
mostly on the right side, lately or
for as long as my pride
holds out, then
i let the dentist make another hole
in my mouth, 
but in the mean time,
watching the long johns tumble
with pink jocks and sudsy tube 
socks in the slow-spinning 
washer portal, 
my mood turns
equatorial, and maritime,
though it's 13 degrees
outside, i stand
to make new 
diaries
of a point guard named
Tide, today, my hero
must face a half-mile hill
with left atrial cardiac
arrythmia and no choice 
but to climb, — a cold 
pill of sun rides shotgun
at the apex; passing cars
make a schussing glide,
like weak side
help, like nitrous
oxide,
i turn
flush from my bank
of Kenmore, tides go
out with 
the pastry
in my mouth, and the air, becoming
suddenly, sickly sweet and so visible
with peppermint-scented lint swirls, 
like all you dandelion people,
you beautiful spores ...
choked up in a blast
of motes, i wish to take
down these diary notes
forever before
i am blown
away.

to be frank,
i had sand grit in my shoes,
i was kicking it 
in the dunes
with an empty 
hourglass
on clavicle lanyard, i heard
a familiar voice say, "hypno-
tizmotic sleep is worth few grains
in a pinch ..."
i was hunting for a vector
in the winter light, on those dunes
in late afternoon when prisms bloom
into anti matter flooding the floorboards
of a roller coaster with silica, 
and yet hip
deep, swallowed 
by the shifting swales, by incoming
dipper, to be frank, some rarefied fireflies
billa-bonged like umbilical electrons
in the cyclops head lamp
of an all terrain vehicle, slow roll
of limbo lug nut, your basic three
wheeler, and i answered back, "where the fuck
are you man you're seriously driving me 
buggy ..."
Some cocaine, or 
salt, spilled 
from the snapped neck
of an hour glass one grain 
at a time, a peg leg
of mine powered thru 
quick lime, thru no fault
like an auger where all
my auguries should be.
If anyone has seen my brother
frank please instant
message me.

a gerard manley
hopkins shoe 
horn, brimming 
with gooey
au jus on the cusp 
of Jello and mint 
sprigs;
eighty two 
blazing candles
on a four foot slab 
of jaundiced 
pound cake
in Burroughs' 
barn;
a pair 
of ghastly blue
dungarees hung 
on a hat tree
with the watch cap
of a gandy dancer 
stapled 
to the crotch,
to the crotch ...
the shattered face 
of Corso's last lost
watch; 
a stack of mags in a 
Bleecker street john
that Kerouac used
to use, to jack
with 
heart-shaped soap dish,
sealed by a sloppy, bearded
k i s s, 
some kind of burnt out
zoom shot, a cow skull
butt-up to 
minora, 
and something else 
you don't ever want 
to know.
Dennis Mahagin's poems and stories have appeared in Exquisite Corpse, 42opus, Frigg Magazine, Absinthe Literary Review, Stirring: A Literary Collection, Pequin, The Angler, Mannequin Envy, 3 A.M., Underground Voices, Thieves Jargon, Zygote In My Coffee, and Hiss Quarterly. A book of his poems, entitled Grand Mal, is forthcoming in 2009 from Three Roads Press, which is a new imprint of Cleveland-based Suspect Thoughts Press. Dennis also has a blog, which contains many colorful vignettes, You Tube music videos, and lurid paens to Levitra, Cialis, and L-Arginine. This blog is located at http://fourhourhardon.blogspot.com.
Comments (closed)
Frankie Metro
2010-05-18 08:35:44
I chew
mostly on the right side, lately or
for as long as my pride
holds out, then
i let the dentist make another hole
in my mouth,
yes exactly why i still have so many cavities!






















