Zumwalt Poems Online

Posts tagged ‘Zumwalt Poetry’

The Grand Panjandram

The Grand Panjandram

In dark draped light, they set the stage with positively pessimistic preposterous pronouncements:
                               open-ended, close-minded —
                                                             an onslaught of oozing, slimy, backbiting, backstabbing, bamboozling, bath-bubble babble.

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers but where the heck is the peck that Peter Piper picked?

Blame the government! Blame the moderators! Blame the other politicians!

Blame the prosperous! Blame the lazy, liberal-influenced, moral-obliterating, freeloading nameless discontents! Blame blame, but oh, so blamelessly….

Our media plays politics, shamelessly positioned cross-legged on the tracks of the central station throwing rocks at the podiums of the office seekers and office sitters who madly craft the nightly news peering over the simmering cauldron as they add tortoise ears and bat eyes to their brew.

They know nothing is knowable; the perception of reality is reality: reality is only what is perceived.

I had a little nut-tree, nothing it would bear, but nuts are scattered everywhere along with rampant fear. Predictably, my mind wanders until there is no more silliness to hear while my unsuspecting stomach growls as the choruses of the shameless masses cheer.

I know reality.

It is that thinner-than-thread string that connects one thought to another and one moment to the next.

I know consequences. These are things that happen in direct proportion to lack of diligence.

The end follows the beginning; but also sets up every new beginning. Each possibility is the result of each result.

I will set aside my expectations — of what reality should be — to go along with the ride. It will ultimately lead to the next ride and at some point there will be a chance to get off, walk away and look back at the vast, almost infinite, devastation.

— Zumwalt (2016)

Voortrek

Voortrek

Twisting and deforming
Raging daemonic forces
Scream across the veldt.
              Corkscrew clouds
              Peeling off our thin, Formica-top civilization.

                            No Oz awaits;
                            Dorothy and Toto have headed for the shelters.
                            The only Munchkins, mutants.

Your fault
My fault
No fault.

              We pulled the cork,
              The Jinn gave their notice;
              And History’s in its familiar whirlpool
              With vertigo the fashion of today.

Like hunkered hedgehogs
Curled in spherical,
Lance-backed laagers,

We have one option:

              Shut our eyes
              And wait for the dust to settle.

— Zumwalt (1981)

mental block

mental block

spiraling parapet spinning passages
sweeping the bleakness
clouds sail skimming the
gravy scum of lifetimes of labor.

I know
of what you go
and where you want
but pretense
the avenger of moonglow
cries out against all that is anguished

and taps on the counter
like the frozen ballerina
on the shoulders of your shoelace.

— Zumwalt (1980s)

Overweight Legionnaires

Overweight Legionnaires

Ripening wine
And a greedy fire
Throw on another log
While the fog coagulates about the limes
And chokes Eboracum
In a clammy shroud.

Hadrian’s Wall’s gone mossy—
Too cold for laid back Latins
Pouring libations
While we watch the
Gonzo Celts
Digging up the peat.

— Zumwalt

TICKER TAPE PARADE

film-reelTICKER TAPE PARADE

Parody Worship
Smiling in the Dusk of Midnight Eyes
Acting in the Bleakness
of Frosted Minds

Paced Paper Parade —
Pausing Promises Pleading
Past the Cineramic
Sycophantic Sharks

a Coldness Recedes
and Faith Breakers Retreat
into Placebos of Reeling Celluloid

— Zumwalt (1981)

Bull Market

Bull Market

The gardeners have hit the pavement,
Bulldozed by smiling engineers
Optimists—peddling bromides.

Take your pick:
        Withdraw your last fiver
        For a philosophic Wheel-O;
or,
        Hands in your pockets, sardonic
        Watch Babel climb.

“On this spot will be erected utopia”
        Yeah, sure.
        But, the wise man knows Penelope
        Has taken on Ithaca
        And counsels Odysseus to put his
        Money in Krugerrands.

        — Zumwalt (late 1980’s)

no purchase necessary

no purchase necessary

available
conveniently
select and seize

no contract
no lease
no terms
no conditions

the wild sunbreezed days
spawning and spawned
extra innings without fouls or errors
endlessly imaged in a corridor of mirrors

cloud nine working overtime
free and without obligation
but paradise has a hidden cost
when it is ultimately misplaced

no clue,
no expectation,
no indefinite hunch
no single crumb to munch
just the indigestion
of a bait and switch free lunch
which in retrospect,
not an attractive offering,
even though free,
and initially,
relatively
needily/speedily
back-seat, magic-carpet-ride breezily easy.

— zumwalt (2011)

the wreck of goodwill

the wreck of goodwill

every dime counted
seemed to count itself
but the pennies were the trouble spot
and the cost of all goodwill.

— Zumwalt (1998)

obsessive

obsessive

serious itch

— Zumwalt (2012)

Poetry: The One Place Where The Most Popular THE Is Scarce

Poetry: The One Place Where The Most Popular THE Is Scarce

— Zumwalt (2012)