Poetry

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="041a11c3.gif"> <div> <A HREF="http://www.iuniverse.com/marketplace/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0%2D595%2D13471%2D8" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.iuniverse.com/marketplace/boo"><U><IMG SRC="08164960.gif" border=0 width="100" height="150" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> Click the image to order</div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#99CC00" FACE="Arial" ><B>John A. Mangini Jr.</B></FONT>     <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#CCCC66" FACE="Arial" >|   <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="John A. Mangini Jr."><U><B>home</B></U></A></FONT></div> <div> <B>Poetry</B><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ordering Info"><U>Ordering Info</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id52.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Short Stories"><U>Short Stories</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Me"><U>Contact Me</U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Audio Readings"><U>Audio Readings</U></A></div> <div> <IMG SRC="040f4010.gif" border=0 width="500" height="1" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Poetry</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>I Now Know</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> What gloom</div> <div> does rise</div> <div>      fast </div> <div>      and </div> <div>      pervious</div> <div> along the waters</div> <bR> <div> waters of </div> <div> canvas colored</div> <div> ashes</div> <div>     swish</div> <div> between toes</div> <div>             aloof</div> <div>             not know</div> <div> dusk</div> <div> and </div> <div> dawn</div> <bR> <div> set clear</div> <div> as a </div> <div> vanishing</div> <div> bird</div> <div>            a waving magic wand</div> <bR> <div> wondering</div> <bR> <div>     wonderment</div> <bR> <div> among the furrow</div> <div> backdrop</div> <div>            draped</div> <div>            along</div> <div> merriment</div> <div> in luscious</div> <div> lares</div> <div> of undergarment</div> <div> paintings</div> <div> on the ceiling</div> <div>       chapel</div> <div> setting free</div> <div> along the </div> <div>       Cistine tree</div> <div> of tormented glee</div> <bR> <div> pressing </div> <div> down</div> <div> a tiny</div> <div>    tiny</div> <div>    seed</div> <bR> <div> tiny seed</div> <div> into the ground</div> <div>        soft</div> <div>          grands</div> <div>              of </div> <div>                sand</div> <div> filter out</div> <div> the sun</div> <div>                   lie fine</div> <div> conjuring</div> <div>                   high</div> <div> mountains</div> <div> on a ground</div> <div> of crystal</div> <div>                   dull</div> <div> standing </div> <bR> <div>       ubiquitous</div> <bR> <div>       all-seeing</div> <bR> <div>                   freezing</div> <div> cool</div> <div> atop</div> <div> snow covered</div> <div> dunes</div> <bR> <div> through </div> <div> lasting</div> <div> glades</div> <div> of </div> <div> glass.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>The Room</B></div> <bR> <div>      The room </div> <div> was cold and damp</div> <div>      swamp-like;</div> <bR> <div> coke </div> <div> and </div> <div> weed </div> <div> and </div> <div> alcohol,</div> <bR> <div> whores wanting to get high--</div> <div>           anything to get high,</div> <div> blackened skin under eyes,</div> <div>      floppy tits dangling-- bra-less,</div> <div> faces stone as zombies--</div> <div>      numb as thumbprints on the skin.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Lonesome</B></div> <bR> <div> I search</div> <div> to find</div> <div> nothing</div> <div> but </div> <div> Pennsylvania</div> <div> January</div> <div> dangling </div> <div> icicles</div> <div> from my door</div> <div> while the piano </div> <div> plays jazz</div> <div> and </div> <div> the mail man</div> <div> delivers scrap</div> <div> and </div> <div> retired men</div> <div> dressed in </div> <div> fury hats</div> <div> walk dogs</div> <div> through my </div> <div> frozen </div> <div> gray </div> <div> yard</div> <div> leaving me</div> <div> to the </div> <div> entertainment</div> <div> of feces </div> <div> smoking</div> <div> grass.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <I>             III</I></div> <bR> <div> I love to close my eyes</div> <div> late at night and imagine</div> <div> I live in a collage of jazz,</div> <div> buried between photographs</div> <div> of New York City 1950</div> <div> black and white club scenes</div> <div> of cigarettes and clouded smoke,</div> <div> songstresses and lone microphones,</div> <div> shiny brass and ivory </div> <div> and black folk in felt fedoras</div> <div> calling me Cat.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>I Slept with Anger</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> I remember the night we met</div> <div> at my house with cigarettes</div> <div> and liquor</div> <div> the candles burned quickly</div> <div> under the fan</div> <div> your eyes</div> <div> inviting</div> <div> as a whore on Liberty Ave.</div> <bR> <div> Your anger slept with me that night</div> <div> fists upon my back</div> <div> bruised the skin that</div> <div> treated you like a real lady,</div> <div> recognizing the difference</div> <div> rage subsided to my </div> <div> grasp</div> <div> just holding you</div> <div> not wanting to let go</div> <div> as I noticed the Celtic tattoo</div> <div> wrapped around your upper arm.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Home Alone</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> Prostrate           on       the      couch    I     hear     the    ice </div> <div>                                                                                     </div> <div>                                                                                      fall, </div> <bR> <div> birds       chirp,       cars        move      on,           air     blows</div> <div> f  r  e  e  l  y     from    the       vents      and            boredom      </div> <bR> <div> sets       in.            R   m    a     t                       thoughts                                                                                                                                                                                                                     a     p    n                                         </div> <div>                                                      control            my                   brain </div> <bR> <div> what          I            must                           do.  </div> <bR> <div> Thinking back </div> <div> to childhood, </div> <div> the time I had </div> <div> to reflect, </div> <div> the simple ways </div> <div> I entertained myself.  </div> <bR> <div> Now                     I                     sit                  blank    in             my           tee     -        shirt </div> <div> and                sweats              pondering             the                                 absences, </div> <div> voids             to                fill; </div> <div> how                                            depressing </div> <div> still                      air                                                sits.  </div> <bR> <div> Faint                         signs                      of                          life                outside          my window </div> <div> tell me                                       that I’m breathing, </div> <div> the calm                                     fucks                              with                            me </div> <div> wishing                         it                         would                            go                      away - </div> <div> vanish                 into                  day.  </div> <bR> <div>                          </div> <div>                          L</div> <div>                            i</div> <div>                             s</div> <div>                               t</div> <div>                                 l</div> <div>                                  e   s  s                                   </div> <div> e  n  e  r  g  y </div> <bR> <div> s</div> <div> u</div> <div> b</div> <div> s</div> <div> i</div> <div> d</div> <div> e</div> <div> s, </div> <bR> <div>                   bored </div> <div>                           yet </div> <div> unmoved </div> <bR> <div> by </div> <bR> <div> life.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Courting Birds</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> Have you ever heard</div> <div> two sparrows talking?</div> <bR> <div> come here often?</div> <div> what’s your sign?</div> <bR> <div> understanding simply</div> <div> what they’re saying,</div> <bR> <div> X and Y kinda stuff</div> <div> wondering what the other thinks,</div> <bR> <div> if they’ll shack-up</div> <div> after a long cool rain.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Pick-up Lines</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> We are the center of attention,</div> <div> she’s drunk, I’m drunk, their drunk,</div> <div> twenty dollars a round makes it hard</div> <div> but we get by.  </div> <div> We are all friends, acquaintances and strangers. </div> <div> Who needs a shot?</div> <div> As if need has anything to do with it. </div> <div> Or maybe.</div> <div> She blows cigarette smoke in my face</div> <div> and I, in her eyes, blow smoke of a thousand rote lies.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>