Aug 17, 2011

Life, Liberty, OR The Pursuit Of Happiness


III.



Crafted bliss in a mason jar


bubbles to the surface where its essence


dissolves into the sanguinity of the scene

 
before me at the pizza place:


The patrons are pole-axed


by Budweiser and trivia, by the amber menace


of the oven yawning as the timer ticks to zero


because nobody knows where lies Laos.


One girl shouts:


“Is that even a real place?”


Cheeriness fled me, replaced by the bitter of burnt garlic.


We fire our teachers and praise the wisdom of pizza


called “kicker”, and the Dream dies slowly.



Nicholas V. Miele, June 2011
originally read at PoemAlley August 2, 2011



The Beachead Wails


near a body of water where the beachhead wails

a casket empty save for the scales

an empty casket lies in state

where  lady liberty is no longer magistrate


Ever since a miscarriage of justice stalks the soul

and a stillborn blows in the winds

the magnolia, incarcerated in sidewalk pavement raised from a stitch

strains perplexed, and in the dire wake of fall rails against

the wires woven of the wrought iron fence.

The government doesn't speak for us,

separate yourself from the state,

their defaults are a heavy weight,

we're getting nowhere at this rate.

That's what the magnolia says.


Enzo Malagisi, August 13, 2011
original to the blog

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