Friday Senryu
i
How many words here,
in this three-inch yellow chalk?
Hundreds. Thousands. One.
ii.
In the stall, a turd,
stinking in stinking urine.
The stinking bastard.
iii
To me (in mirror):
Like William, see double, you!
From me. (In mirror.)
iv
I bring to my lips
this fourth cup of black coffee.
But not in friendship.
v
Going out, he said,
Fridays are so beautiful!
Always are, the dead.
vi
What? A hummingbird
up here in February?
Sun on green light. Red.
vii
No doubt accomplished.
Still we’re returning this batch.
They’re not what we wished.
.
Hamlet’s Blues
My daddy is dead and my momma’s remarried.
O my daddy is dead and my momma’s remarried.
I say my daddy is dead and my momma’s remarried.
I want t’go back to school.
I got them t’be or not t’be blues.
O I got them t’be or not t’be blues.
I say I got them old t’be or not t’be blues.
I feel like such a fool.
My daddy’s ghost done told me.
O my daddy’s ghost he done told me.
I say my daddy’s old ghost he done told me
My Uncle Claude done him kill to rule.
I got them t’be or not t’be blues.
O I got them t’be or not t’be blues.
I say I got them old to’be or not t’be blues.
I want t’go back to school.
I love a sweet gal named Ophelia.
O I love a sweet gal named Ophelia.
I say I love a sweet gal and her name’s Ophelia.
But she’s just her daddy’s tool.
I got them t’be or not t’be blues.
O I got them t’be or not t’be blues.
I say I got them old t’be or not t’be blues.
I feel like such a fool.
I got a bosom friend named Horatio.
O I got a bosom friend named Horatio.
I say I got a bosom friend and his name’s Horatio.
Damn, I think I love him too.
I got them t’be or not t’be blues.
O I got them t’be or not t’be blues.
I say I got them old t’be or not t’be blues.
I got t’go back to school.
.
I Envy People Who Know All the Names
I envy people who know all the names of trees.
And those who know all the names of insects.
Or all the names of flowers.
Or dinosaurs.
Or seashells.
I once wanted to study geology, not for the sake
of knowing geology, but so I could know
all the names of rocks,
and of rock-forming processes,
and of rock-eroding processes.
For the same reason, I once memorized
the names of all of Napoleon’s twenty-six marshals,
which I have since forgotten,
except for Bernadotte and Murat and Ney.
.
Stink Eye Magazine 