Missus Oxygen Kissing Mister Dynamite

Lights flicker from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there’s nothing, really nothing to turn off
Just Louise and her lover so entwined
And these visions of Johanna that conquer my mind
— Bob Dylan, Visions of Johanna

Halfway back down these invisible stairs
high above earth, wizard of spacetime’s
relentless liquid imagination guzzles
helium stoned up there in thin air
before he begins circular descent
into deeper despair to celebrate
around the forgotten families’
wintery solstice hearth kindle
on all Christmas Tree Lanes
where Santa plus rain deer
gather to bless Tiny Tim
Scrooge and me depends
on their mood; whereas
girls decide rightfully
to dump just on moi
one male chauvinist
Chanukkiah bush
unkosher piggy
who does not
accept those
martyr sorta
archetypist
Missy Joan
of Arc-ers
bah hum
bug jeez
can’t find
no knees
etcetera
amend?
amen.

 

Gerard Sarnat has been nominated for Pushcarts plus Best of the Net Awards. His publications include Gargoyle, Main Street Rag, New Delta Review, MiPOesias, Blue Mountain Review, Canary Eco, Military Experience and the Arts, Brooklyn Review, San Francisco Magazine, and Los Angeles Review. “Kaddish for Country” was selected for pamphlet distribution on Inauguration Day nationwide. “Amber Of Memory” was the single poem chosen for his 50th Harvard reunion Dylan symposium. His collections include Homeless Chronicles (2010), Disputes (2012), 17s (2014), and Melting the Ice King (2016).

Lisa Bolduc, aka Ratty: I am a Boston based Hip Hop artist, specializing in poetry and art that encourages critical thought. My pen name is Ratty. The letters stand for Righteousness And Truth Transform You, representing my art’s mission to awaken one’s spiritual senses.