Two Poems
by Richard Martin
Devotion
I came to frantic, fumbling through the glove compartment
of my forehead. A siren rose
to split my blood like logs. You cracked the door
for the light & I fell back in.
Wild birch shadows flailed
the ceiling, our cat creaked down the hall & on the roof
applause broke
for my amazing temperature.
Came a hunch of lightning & thousands
of garage doors fell.
Like ghosts, dry ice & diamonds lurked in my eardrums.
I dreamed of you & you
stood in the door, questioning the stranger
in my eyes. The moon groaned
like a missing lake. Tomorrow reappeared
& crumbled, breath on my neck, filling the room with coal.
I woke sweating in tongues, my head swayed like a house
rounding the corner. Step by step my hands & feet
calmed, the planets rolled serene down
a window of leaves.
In yellow linen, the wake of delirium
& flapping candlelight, you sat me up, saved, clearing, fed
& watered me. I survived.
I was the sun. There was nobody, nothing
but sun, sun, sun.
I want to fly with you, climb, crawl, sail
& swim through everything cool & fresh in the world.
First, I want to sit on the porch
in the shade & breeze, sipping
tall, minty, iced somethings, idly
swing & watch the whole
passing, imperturbable, timeless, blue & green world go by with you.
When I'm Dead
& the squawking geese fade
when I'm floating
in little man circles
everywhere
who will hear me
call hello
somebody
somebody
will
I imagine
When I'm dead
bought, sold & shipped
to a rainbow condo
on the brand new
Kilimanjaro
how free will I be
when someone comes along
listens
knocks
listens
When I'm dead
I bet time
will be very different
& space, too
in & out
both
When I'm dead
I'll pretend I'm hiding
& you pretend
to find me
That'll keep the crickets
& stars busy, give the bones
& leaves ambition
to jump up & dance again
Richard Martin lives in Los Angeles. His work has been published in Virginia Quarterly Review, North American Review, Chicago Review, and elsewhere. He is currently shopping a novel, Oranges for Joe, and a children's book for grown-ups, I Inherited a Mixed Animal from Uncle Living in Woods. Richard can be reached at hzlmts@netscape.net.