Short Works for the Peripatetic Web Surfer
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Derelict

by Howie Good

In ragged company
on a day cold enough
to freeze tears

swigging from a paper bag
under the overpass

with the frantic gestures
of a drowning man

and the unseen sea

incited as by dementia
and full of tiny lives

shaking its silver bracelets

August 16, 2008   1 Comment

Love During Wartime

by Howie Good

Time to crack open that bottle
the previous tenants bequeathed to us.

We can drink to whatever you want -
lack of sleep, importune prayers,
another day of freedom from the landlord’s

fretful knock - then tumble into bed,
our bones loosened, our minds in happy
disarray, despite, or perhaps because,

it’s now light, and there’s a kind of war
outside our window, and the invisible sniper
in the gaunt bell tower is always watching

with bloodshot eyes for a clean shot.

June 25, 2008   No Comments