Modern Day Flossie
1.
Danse Russe
“If when (his) wife is (not) sleeping
and the baby and Kathleen
are sleeping.”
Flossie follows her husband
to his north room
watches him
from behind the armoire
“dance naked, grotesquely
before (his) mirror
waving (the) shirt {she had just ironed} round (his) head”
and listens to his Wailing rather than
“Singing softly to (him) self:
“I am lonely, lonely.
I was born to be lonely,
I am best so!”
To Flossie’s witness
her husband has made
a complete “buttocks” of himself
Making her presence known
“against the yellow drawn shades, -”
She tells Mr. “happy genius” Pediatrician
To send Kathleen home
and take turns helping her:
Change the baby’s poopy diaper
Walk the baby, Rock the baby
Make & Heat the baby’s bottle
Burp the baby, Bathe the baby
Admire their baby’s arms, their baby’s face,
their baby’s shoulders, flanks, buttocks
Make sure they resemble his?
Flossie has the cure.
Tells the baby,
“Who shall say I am not
the happy genius of my household?”
Photography © Allison Goldin
2.
“This is just to say”
Dear William:
I cleaned you out today.
The helicopters woke me from a deadening dream:
Thick yellow pus in my big toe
Made it difficult to walk
Beside you
At the end
The pus ran clear
The clear color of plum juice
Pus(s) juice
I have been loyal to betrayal.
A wooden vase with metal roses is all that remains
I had the gold Plaque engraved:
“Luv u not,
F – u, WCW.”
BTW, This – has been sold to (on-line) news sources everywhere. I am writing a memoir. Movie 2 follow.
3.
“The Red Wheelbarrow”
“So much depends
upon”
a Class 2
lever
and a wheel;
axle
So, I sold
it!
The Price is Right!
to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
beside the “Fountain”
besides, the white
chick-ens
flew the coup.
The artists have dismantled it.
They rearranged it.
it was becoming a cult.
The legs are still legs.
The handles – arms.
The tire – more like a head.
But it can no longer be pushed around.
It stands upright.
It actually walked out of the museum with more money than a wheelbarrow could hold, no matter what the color. Oh, there was a glazing rain.
Diane Sahms-Guarnieri, native Philadelphian, is currently the Poetry Editor of The Fox Chase Review. Her first full-length collection of poetry, Images of Being, (StoneGarden.net publishing) was released October 2011. She is the recipient of the 2013 A.E. Ventures Foundation Grant for poetry and is poet in residence at the Ryerss Museum and Library. Her work has been published widely in the small and electronic press and she has performed her poetry at venues along the east coast of the United States.
Allison Goldin is an artist living in Cambridge. Her work is a collection of spontaneous drawings from the imagination. The most common link throughout her art are the semi-recognizable creatures scattered amongst and bringing together the surrounding doodles. She is currently studying Illustration at The School of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Leave A Comment