Two Poems by David Greenspan

MY NAME IS JOSEPH AND I AM A ROCKSTAR

If only a shotgun, if only
a twelve gauge loaded fast
with birdseed and shot
between my teeth. Before
the sun eagerly fucks
the clouds – I ask her
to please crack my chest
with a four iron and I
ask her to please raise
and lower this golf club
with great force until
I cannot help but grin
piano key wild. Tonight
I am happiest when she
drags me through salt.
Tonight I am happiest
when her power-lines
are empty of pigeon
and we hang ourselves
from them with joy,
joy like white bone.
Tonight I am happiest
when her hair moves
slowly through my gut.

 

MY NAME IS JONAS AND I READ MANY BOOKS ABOUT MILES DAVIS

My lungs replaced now
with fiberglass. Tonight,
laughing gas anxious
as she changes the locks.
She changes the locks
and her arm now across
my throat. This is reason
to chew fast through
my veins. This is reason
to replace my veins
with electric line.
Darling pour vodka
over honey. Tonight
my heart is not unlike
wood-grain, not unlike
drywall. This is no
depression, this is
her hair strung
always around
my neck and only
fog, this is only fog.
This is complaints
of my smoke, often
eating cigarette butts.
Now she changes
the locks, since when
does this marigold
grow fast and curl
over my face. When
is she going to smile.
When is she going
to offer me water
from her smile. All I see,
the most silent yellow.

 

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About the Author:

David Greenspan is the author of How They Strike a Balance (forthcoming from Nephew); as well as the chapbooks i tried to bear the elephants and lost (NAP) and Then (Turtleneck Press). David’s poem have appeared, or will soon, in alice blue, Anti-, Midwestern Gothic, West Branch, and Whiskey Island. Find him online at DavidGreenspan.blogspot.com.