Truly Outrageous

Selections from Muse & Drudge (as published in Chain)

when memory is unforgiving
mute eloquence
of taciturn ghosts
wreaks havoc on the living

intimidates intimates
polishing naked cactus
down below a bitter buffer
inferno never froze over

to deaden the shock
of enthusiastic knowledge
a soft body when struck
pale light or moderate

smooth as if by rubbing
thick downward curving
bare skin imitative
military coat made of this

        ______

tabloid depravity
dirty snowball
held together
with weak gravity

“fool wee, tumble your
head off—that dern wind
can move you, but
it can’t budge me”

he couldn’t help himself
he couldn’t help it
he couldn’t stop himself
nobody stopped him

blessed are stunned cattle
spavined horses bent under their saddles
blessed is the goat as its throat is cut
and the trout when it’s gutted

        ______

bring money bring love
lucky floorwash seven
powers of africa la man
poderosa ayudame numeros sueños

restore lost nature
with hoodoo paraphernalia
get cured in cuban by a charming
shaman in an urban turban

forgotten formula cures
endemic mnemonic plague
statisticians were sure
the figures were vague

sister mystery listens
helps souls in misery
get to the square root
of evil and render it moot

        ______

spaginzy spagrades
splibby spabibs
choice voice noise
gets dress and breath

slave-made artifact
your salt-glazed poetry
mammy manufacture
jig-rig topsy-turvy face

dance synched up so
coal burning tongues
united surviving ruin
last chance apocalypso

broke body, stammering spirit
been worked so hard
if I heard a dream
I couldn’t tell it

-Harryette Mullen