Elizabeth
Jasper
Por
Amour…
you are
dead
my
love my heart
who
made my body
sing
as never before
i
know it
no
phone call
e-mail
letter
obituary
but
i know
i
know
part
of you
living
in me
firing
my passion
my
desire
my
very being
slipped
away
i
felt it go
to
join the whole of you
as
it must
i
hurt
i
hurt
i
want
i
feel
i
am
am
Elizabeth
Jasper - January 29, 2006
Morning
News
A
few less good men
In
Hoosierworld today
Seven
flag-draped boxes coming home
Grief
all over
(note to troops:
do not let them promote you to lance corporal
Tend
to get dead from there)
And
for what?
What?
Greed?
Maybe
But
even that seems more humble
Than
the Bushwhackers’ creed
Just
raw hunger for power
Fits
the profile best
So
here I am
In a red,
red state
With blue,
blue thoughts
Heavy heart
Confused
Awash in not knowing
this week
suite
1.
Irish
rover buzzed in
said speak
of
things bizarre
e.g. events
this week
Dalifreakinesque
no
Lama intended
The big S
Salvadore
-----urreal
-----ublime
to ridiculous
fully revealed…
Monday to Thursday
dream to nightmare
svaha!
2.
Martin
king
who would be
Man
His
dream still too much
Cloaked
in rhetoric
We talk the talk
Walk
the walk
Fall short the reality
Come
up missing
true depth of meaning
wasting
away in some
mediocre promise
no one plans to keep
yet boldly
celebrates each passing year
all
children left behind
color,
character, genius not an issue
why
pick up the challenged
disadvantaged,
hopeless
elevate them when
it takes
but a little waiting
for
the middle to fall to the bottom
kerthump
and
there we are…
in a heap
beneath the
rumps of the new
royalty?
all asses stink
3.
WednesdayNovemberthird2004
talk
about days that live in
infamy
woke
up with some hope still
picked
up a paper
turned on the TV
puked
in my trash can
extended my-four
year cruise on
that great
river…de-Nile
works most
days
but not ThursdayJanuarytwentieth2005
strictly
a don’tlooklieinthebottomofthebarge kinda day
used
to love a parade
4.
votin’
didn’t help much…
somebody
spraypainted
that on all the
trafficlightswitchboxes
in
this tiny blue town in a tiny blue county in a big red state surrounded by a red
sea of states…and on and on
can’t
think that way
gotta get up
get
going
make tracks
fight
the fight
wish Abe Lincoln
would
show up, give me wisdom
appear
as a vision in the King’s dreams
tell
him he should go see a play
5.
inevitable
that Coronation Day arrives,
time
marches on
rain and sleet
and snow would be good
give
no omen that something good is happening here
6.
so
Friday comes again
all things
are different in their seeming sameness
battle
on
never give up
defeat
is an illusion
now is not
the time to diminish effort
pick
up pieces
walk to the distant
beat of that different drummer
hear
the beat?
faint, but there
find
it
hold it
One
foot in front of the other
Keep
on keepin’ on
And the
faith, baby,
We shall overcome
Elizabeth
Jasper - Martin Luther King Day 2005
The Truth About Grandma's Biscuits
first
batch
always overcooked
got a little too brown
little too hard
Grandma
said
it was her old woodstove
temperature never
got quite right
'til batch two.
up early
with Grandma
i knew all about that first batch
they went to grandma's
dogs
she loved those dogs
Grandpa barely tolerated
out
the back porch
door they'd go
less than perfect
but nectar to old
Gittum
and his pack of compadres
second
batch
sheer perfection
inch and a half high
bigger around than most
she used a water glass for cuttin'
'stead of a biscuit cutter
dripping
butter
oozing homemade
Damson Plum preserves
those were grandpa's
He never knew what went before
Elizabeth Jasper
Copyright August 2004
For consideration
to new edition of Beautiful Biscuits
waking
dream
dark muse stretches
blinks
mounts the wind
in sightless, wingless
flight
shredded
lace gown
trails behind her
tucks, folds, tatters
home to all her
minions
Lovecraft
in the lead
Wilkie Collins
John Polidori
Bram Stoker
Algernon Blackwood
Mary Shelley,
Some of Keats,
scariest
of all, St. John
divine in his horrific view
so many more
cling tight
riding
through murky clouds
inky vestiges of loss
somewhere
along
the way
King Steven fell out,
Crashed to earth
In his chromed cliché
no granddaddy
picks him up
loves him.
not in this story
strength,
vision
it takes to be her child
she bids me come
take a place, in
her rusty silks
cherished in blackness
hopelessness
redeemed in condemnation
and on her shoulder
dressed in feathers
and crepe
Poe incessantly
tones
nevermore!
Da' bomb
Like the black
girls say
you’re such a bomb
Thunder lightning female
fallout
energy all over my house
No storms outside
but sure as hell a big one
brewing in here.
All these women ready to do anything
everything thinkable
unthinkable
Credible incredible things
with for through to you (me too)
and you know it sense it
revel in all of it but you’re cool…
wineglass tipped settin’ out on the porch
surveying the meadow telling
the Word
doing the Work,
holy shit you should be against the law.
And there poised, at ready
annoyingly prescient queen bee
would kill
us all singly
collectively
one fell swoop
in some Damascussteelblade
tortuous bloodletting kind of way
even our souls might not survive.
Hiking
up my petticoat
getting off this damned trolley.
If mama was right
there’ll be another in ten minutes
and it may not be headed for mayhem
like this one.
Not sure patience is a virtue
but it’s damnsure
a blessing in this scenario
wait for another car
or for this one to
come around again
less of a crowd on board.
Saturday
5 a.m. for Dean and Susan McClain
Kerouac’s
“Some of
the Dharma”
gifted me
celebrating
my latest birth
reading
all night
left-side pages
only
reading or dreaming?
doesn’t
matter
day eases in quietly
caresses window glass
slips through
pink French silk shade
arrives
sleep
at last
realizing
after all these years
i
don’t
know
Jack
Morning
Show
TV's humming along
i
ain't really listening much
words here, there
murder, Bush
terror, Iraq,
stock
down, up
who had luck
i'm brushing teeth
curling hair
lookin' for
toe rings
and a bra that's not
life-threatening in this heat
Whoa! what'd
she say, that perky anchor girl?
Lordy, lordy some dumb buncha
Hoosiers
done snuck across the river
kidnapped
my family, friends
drug 'em
way North and
omigod put 'em
on
EXHIBIT!
Cause
i just know she
said "if
you're out and about
today
stop by the zoo
see the new
exhibit of
southern white
winos!
aw hell, you reckon
they mighta
got my teachermentorfriend
in that haul?
Who's gonna
read the crap i write
if he's
on display at the ZOO?
and
lots of other important folk too
sure
was a relief to see them white
rhinos
from South Africa pop up into
view
a little later...
To
Learn More about Elizabeth Jasper,
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Also
be sure to visit her website at www.ejsuniverse.com
