A Sleep/less Night: A-Z poems

Kristopher D. Taylor

Published by Fowlpox Press ©2015 Kristopher D. Taylor ISBN: 978-1-927593-43-1

26 poems written in during a single sleepless night. This collection, as all others are for Kaleigh Maeby, always.

Con/tent(s)

ahh bay

c(s)ay day euh effe j’zeh hashe

ee g’zeeh

kaa elle eme enne oo pay qoo airre esse tay

uouh vay

d(w)ouble-vay ix

ee-grek zed

ahh A lonely song- bird, perched on the melancholy throne opens her mail w/ a ha- lf smile- tweeting & twitting as she pleases, but gener- ally only as she pauses be/tween en- velopes.

bay Baiting my hook w/ the last of my food, & praying to the good book that I’ll be able to eat some(any)thing any(some)time soon.

c(s)ay Come w/ me, watch drown those un/fortunate be- ings who dare off/ er their lighter to a man who prefers (M) A T C H E S

day de- liver to me a mess/age from god, just be sure to in/ clude his re-turn address for me to keep in my address book be/tween “Gaudier-Brzeska” and “Feringhetti, Lawrence”

euh ever- y- day comes w/ a surprise a bless(ing) and a curse. each surprise- a bless(ing) each bless(ing) a curse & each curse a bar of soap.

effe for:ever I long for thee/s lov(ing) e*t*e*r*n*i*t*y for thee/s lov(ing) e*m*b*r*a*c*e among the young & the old stars of our favorite night/s sky.

j’zeh going for the gold comes w/ the bronze & the silver -strings attached-

hashe hi-gh above you there is a star call(ing) your name, &o(w)n-ly mis- pro- nounc(ing) it slight-ly.

ee “…i…” (s)he whimpered

g’zeeh just a quick ex- change of words be- for part(ing) ways & to con- tinue their in- dividual live(s) in private- “until next time” “yeah, until next time”

kaa Kid- nap- ped just be- fore dawn & ever(y)- one/s very eyes “ladies & gentle-men” (he said) “this is just an ex-ercise” (it was- n/t)

elle Lady in red roam(ing) seem(x)ly float(x) as if drift(x) in an un- conscious river/bed that I/m con- vinced will (n)ever dry up.

emme mothers follow(ing) the ****/s to their child-ren, & their child-ren to the ****/s the HWY none from the ball- game.

enne no no no one thing (body) trusts the mis-concept- ions re/volving a(round) our heads like the earth to our sun, our moon to our earth & so on.

oo “ooh” they said “ahh” they said “boo” they cried & s(he) laugh(ed) per- haps a little too hard at per- haps the wrong time (12/3/6/9)

pay par- don me, I seem to have lost my sense [(com mon) or (other- wise)] some- where a- long this wind(ing) street that I use(d) to k-now like the back of my h(&and&)

quu Quest/ion not (me) but! the prince/ss I/m sure they k-now a lot more than silly old me

airre Re- sort to y(our) old ways in order to re- sult in y(our) stand- ard & familiar stale- mate.

esse sounds to me like you (w) (s) -could beni- fit from this icy bout: but in/stead you in/sist on buy(ing) the gloves rather than sell(ing) them// your am:bition hurts him your am:bience scares him.

tay to- day is a day

uouh under ink sky you bleed from your sour mind brain- wash(ing) the rain in the gutter in- to aspir(ing) to be more than they [or you or me or you] bar- gain(ed) for.

vay Vacation to the end of rope [leash] went well enough to do it a- gain next year.

d(w)ouble-vay wish(ing) in- to a well * * * * * oh well…

ix XXX I/ve watch(ed) you drink your- self to death on my be- half more than once & I still have trouble for- giv(ing) my- self XXX

ee-grek young a- gain [(for a day)] but to(o) old still to hear you sneak in- to my room as I sleep to wish me sweet dream(s)

zed zoo animals (you)