"One Star Too Hot," "They All Sing on, the Cornered" and "Tropical Storming"
One Star Too Hot
masala throttle reversal
turns ochre as meat revenge
goes through
distempered
choreography
sauced the bottle stopper
a sly move
at best
a slow dank, swallow
that dollared munition frenzy
*
the crush of slow
tomato elision breeds
a lower pastel
deferential shading
when making the glowing whirl
a fastened
top speeding
crossing the line
of empty dots
to hurl
the flying plate
a pirouette
whirling in porcelain
They All Sing on, the Cornered
receding arrears panic
when disruptions concealed
their lost awe
to abdominal radar
wet breath clocks
simulation artichoke pangs
reflexes rendered shut
parasol technologies
cash in a transplant panegyric
staged
when magical velvet
rustled pronouncements
too proctorial
straining for reprint
a receding a cappella
falls
bygone
Tropical Storming
the islands never return
from shift
or shrapnel
no shredding
frozen welt-risen
entourage memories
forgotten
embryo battles
salt the water
palm fronds leave
unfriendly overtones
as dry husk
lowered
the pitch of its crinkle
fading with the distance tide
one-way water
no downside to downstream
drifting en masse
on tide’s lift
to battle each
for a separate shore
Vernon Frazer’s latest poetry collection is Voyage in Port. He recommends the Poetry Project at St. Mark's.
