New Poem by Maurice Oliver

Atmospheric Pressure: A Work-Week Planner

Monday

Exercise, then add polka-dots to my raisin bran thighs.
Later, bake a strawberry ocean of onions chiseled from
tiny birdseed. Remember to flatter each page.

Tuesday

Organize a fight club. Put some fickle in my forensic
kinship then spit polish it. Take the eye glass back to
to mall and exchange it for an Albanian bee hive. One
I can easily recognize.

Wednesday

Do a quick inventory of every bruised locksmith using
a zip gun. Leave my galoshes at home. Pretend the
previous spelling bee has derailed and wakes up in
solitary confinement. And do it in the dark.

Thursday

Call-off the impromptu hailstorm and replace it with a
photographer’s darkroom instead. Before dinner, mix
vermillion devilment into the Vatican wine.

Friday

Take a shower with a fresh bar o Norte Dame then quietly
die in the petting zoo just before a parenthesis cuts its way
through the barbed wire around a hero’s welcome of size
twelve sandals.

After almost a decade of working as a freelance photographer in Europe, Portland-based private tutor and poet Maurice Oliver returned to America in 1990. His poetry has appeared in numerous national and international publications and literary websites. His fourth chapbook is One Remedy Is Travel (Origami Condom). He edits the literary ezine Concelebratory Shoehorn Review.

Comments

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