James Porter at 25 Years, Part 4

Stand on a ladder
and pluck those
plump bodies from
the hundred arms.
Later, we'll make a
batch of ice cream
out of them.

In Zip's

In a restaurant called Zzzzzzz-
zzzzz, one hundred rabbits, instead of
hopping, are walking in like men.

Watch out for Father Joseph, young one,
it's pink to the extreme;
Don't think the edibles are miniscule.

Exploding liquid blows up my  mouth,
and I wait upon the many guys,
the many pots upon Father Zip.

Matt devours hoops.

Variations on a Proverb

Physical labor makes the body strong
       and the mind sharp.
Physical body makes the mind strong
       and the labor sharp.
Sharp mind makes the body physical
       and the labor strong.
Strong labor makes the mind physical
       and the body sharp.
Physical mind makes the sharp labor
       and the strong body.
The sharp, strong, and physical mind
       makes the body labor.
The body strong makes mind physical,
       and the labor sharp.
Physical the body makes strong the labor
       and mind sharp.
The body and mind, the labor
       makes sharp, physical, strong.
Sharp body, physical labor, and strong mind
       makes the The.
Labor the strong body and sharp mind,
       makes the physical.
The physical makes the strong body labor,
       and sharp mind.
Physical labor makes the body strong
       and the mind sharp.

James Porter at 25 Years, Part 7

Ma used to tell me,
"There are things
like huge aphids
that you just
can't understand."

They Say Things

What's that one figure of speech (or figure of peach, as they say)
for when you are totally starting over?
Going back to square one (or pear one, as they say)?
Yeah, that's it -- square one. Though I'm not sure
why it's a square.
You're right, it seems more like you'd start with
a more organic shape.
Right, like a lump.

Lump one! (or one plum, as they say.)
That sounds kind of dumb.
True, but a square? I mean,
a square is a clean-cut, refined shape,
not like the very beginnings of something.
You're right; it really ought to be
called lump one.
Or at least something like that --
maybe just "the lumps."
Like, "We're going to have to go back
to the lumps?"
We're really at the lumps right now (as they say).

I Only Can Wonder

I only can wonder
at the dwelling-place of thunder,
where molecules of spreading blue
run all asunder --
where man was meant to stay forever under,
but has put something -- a clue --

A massive metal thing
of wires, glass, mechanical wing --
a rather clunky, too-large bird.
But it can bring
a man from California to Beijing,
yes, it can move a crowd -- a herd --

But even in sky's day,
where man is clean, apart from clay,
there is some unseen curtain
-- and that's okay.
For Brothers Wright and pilots of today
and tomorrow can not know -- for certain.

Corneal Ulcer

There is a city in my eye,
says the ophthalmologist,
with a thriving nightlife.
But the partygoers are
actually bacteria, and
the city is called Ulcer, WA.

Walking to School

See the paper bag boy, walking to
the place where sponges are squeezed and unsqueezed.
See how he is not so neat (his cowlick is ten feet tall),
see his bones grow exponentially.

Into Travestyland and Candyland he goes a-walking,
breathing toad-thoughts and frog-discoveries,
thinking frog-thoughts and discovering toads,
that paper bag boy.

Marvel, mourn for the other boys, whose mother makes them
ride a dinosaur to school, makes them
buy 100 boulders for 100 rotten dollars,
that they are to eat for lunch, no questions asked.

See the paper bag boy, walking to.