Thursday, May 30, 2013

A heartless young man




A heartless young man
On the train
Left
The best novel
Back broken
In his place

A crushed orange soda
Anemic on vinyl tile
Has my sole
Sticking now
Before the doors
Gap their station
Automatic
















Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

These clothes



These clothes
On my back
I chose

Those that were chosen
For me are lost

When all suited
The skin required
No covering

I'd extend the sky
Over this house
If I could



















Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Monday, May 27, 2013

When I first smelled




When I first smelled
Years of fallen trees
Under green ferns 
16 grew older
Than the red wood
That stained my sneakers
























Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013



To take this cup




To take this cup
Amidst olive branches offered
Is not spirit
The betrayal was coined
By man before
The last ditch

From Devil's Den
To Danang
His blood
Was drunk

Wheatfields
And elephant grass
Have held their ground
Unable to redeploy
Rooted in their graves

Pixels now defoliate the desert
Tenting on the old campground
For crusaders without a cross
To shield their bribe

Our better angels weep
Helpless without their horns
For reveille is past




















Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Sunday, May 26, 2013

On West 8th St.



On West 8th St.
The ragged retail
Hangers on
Of recent vintage
And beer stale
Hunches
Late rise  
Empty windowed
With cabs
And bus tours
Queuing for
Automatic tellers
Dispensing soon
The village
Green



















Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Your darkened face




Your darkened face
In profile
An ornamental bracket
Is a diagon to square
As a supposition of graces
Sings in this ruined temple























Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Saturday, May 25, 2013

What were you thinking



What were you thinking
Private
Walking backwards
Won't get your
Real estate

Zigzagging traverses
Make pretty patterns
From the air

I'm all in stitches
Praying up
Your canvas

Hitting a wall
With your back to it
Warps a perfect stretcher

The boys then fell out
To see you go
A stain
Upon a limit















Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Friday, May 24, 2013

In convenient time




In convenient time
We sit and brew
Prone by dreams
And lacking sleep
All at fingertips
Untouchable

Our children
Work harder at games
Distracted off the porch
By inn hospitality

No wasteland
Proves this economy
Faithless to gifts
And tender
Ransomed
















Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

A warning of cumulus




A warning of cumulus
Gathers my in voice
In an arcane font
A baptism owed
Before drowning
Mouth open to the sky

This porous earth
Sieves through
Evaporate
Of blood
Of dirty fingernails
Of dry tongues
Swollen with reserve
Under nimbus
Looming




















Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Thursday, May 23, 2013

The boy on the bank




The boy on the bank
Who dreamed a turtle
Carrying the world
In a mud pile on its back
Makes a mound
With careful baskets
Shaped like a shell
On its bank
Unmoving
























Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

The cymbals of the day


The cymbals of the day
A fellowship
Of kindred bear
And following bees
Clang to glass
And rear views
Mirrored
To bark old trees
And honey past
These battlefields
Undressed for night




















Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Monday, May 20, 2013

The idea of the well




The idea of the well
Throaty in its store
Secrets a childish laugh
Come pulled up full
Then spilled
Into a fallen mirror
Swallowed by a wish

Of all the times
I sought you here
Now remains a fountain
I do not wish to touch
For fear of going dry

But springs don't mind
Their minding
And water seeks
Its holes
Discovering
Its store


























Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Sunday, May 19, 2013

At the place of accord



At the place of accord
Against the blind
I recollect a copse of trees
Your voice appealing
A wide door
A cedar creek

I heard your voice
In adolescent girls

When this was built
The sound was bent
Between the star and the bed















Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013



He's since worn


He's since worn
His welcome out
Now the redbird's
Weet weet weet
Is sounding anxious
In its hue

Early to spring
But late to court
Scarlet in the breeze
The male surveys
His prospect bare

Too bright to hide
An errant note
(Not green enough
To line a nest)
He fits between
These complements
Perched upon
A swaying bough

Until the redbird
Flies again
To find a wind
To carry on
His song remains
A crying game
Strategic in its
Local sound















Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Should I ever reach for



Should I ever reach for
That household saint
Residing in the rafter
Reclining toward forgiveness
With a fruit bouquet
Transparent

























Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Ain't be havin'



Ain't be havin'
Crazy tripping
Cain't no one
Hand me over
Thumb eyed
Hitched up
Hiking booty strapped
And homeless
With a drinking gourd
And a halo shouldered
Before the flood
Cried a river
Too long

Ain't be trippin'
Cain't no one
Hand me over
The bend is broke 
For knuckleheads
Now we fastly making way












Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Saturday, May 18, 2013

No carbon sinks at present build



No carbon sinks at present build
Nowhere surveyed chthonic chains
Inchoate are the reams distilled
Ear quiet points, shouting planes


















Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

This shack once housed




This shack once housed
A reckoned weight
A gentry whip
A ginning clack
A big house and
A slave- bricked stair

Its barn’s become a planter's dream
Virginia creeper’s tendrils cling
Daughters of a bitter root
Filling up the windows
Pain

The plumb and level
Don’t pertain

This shack once housed
A reckoned weight
Cotton for lead
Bound for wound
But now a ghost
Of innocence
Weightless rocks
Its guilty crib

















Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Thursday, May 16, 2013

A side walking sun




A side walking sun
Hard against
The stern of day
Glares upon Main
Wanting businessmen
Dinners and parasols

Not that any
Would notice
Unneeded shoe repairs
And barely standing nightclubs
Leaning on happy hours











Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Willows high- waisted



Willows high- waisted
Draped and eddied
Pole the brown
Erupting river
Choked width
Cottonwood 
Outbound to the Gulf
Or beached before
All muddy
Stuck
In a state
That carries too
Its slippery name
Drawled around
A flowing seam
Fingering
A sweaty fan
Laid upon
Its reverent lap
Abiding
















Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Monday, May 13, 2013

The banks knelt down





The banks knelt down
And underneath
A woman
Of a river

Bermed and sluiced
For the moment held
Then barrely making way

Sticks in locks
And flashing brown
Sunlight wrung
A flooding smile













Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Sunday, May 12, 2013

The air is thick




The air is thick
And work to breathe
Inside of arms
Remembered

Suited so
A heart could sleeve
A big hand
And a goodbye coat
Bunched around
Its pumping

















Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Saturday, May 11, 2013

At the place




At the place
Where it happened
A tear down
Was in order
To deconstruct
The lesson
Never learnt
But not forgotten
Wide forever
Open















Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Of accord




Of accord
Unknown
No bound
Shifting in
The evening rain
The slot
To drain
The overflow
Is wider than
The spilling
Drink
Upon the
Counter primitive
Below the creeky
Stair












Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Against the blind




Against the blind
Is stole a look
Try to read
This open book
Cast upon
A wavy see
Singing foam
For you and me

Singing foam
And dashing rocks
Pressed against
These fathomed locks
Known to map
And sounding lead
A muffled bell
Inside my head

A muffled bell
Done tole its tale
Bounding books
And grabbing rail
Bulked ahead
In leaky churn
Against the blind
The sighted learn


















Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Monday, May 6, 2013

I recollect a copse of trees




I recollect a copse of trees
Too far across a field of wheat
A gentle slope concealed the rest
From my bloody angle


























Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Your voice appealing




Your voice appealing
Your mother's conditional love
Like a baby switched
Was heard
From here
And just there
But never
In between

A shortness of lungs
Steals a pouring breath
Never filling syllables

Trying to catch
A withdrawn word
Is a childish game

























Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Saturday, May 4, 2013

A wide door



A wide door
Joined once on purpose
For love of art and industry
Lets in the cold
In this ersatz office

The gourds hung 
Out doors
To lure the homing swallows
Knock empty in the wind

This ware house
Of objects tendered
Sits traded by its makers
Still before the till













Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013

Thursday, May 2, 2013

A cedar creek



A cedar creek
In the Shenandoah
Ran red and then amber
Toward the Chesapeake



















Tom McGlynn
copyright 2013