UNDERGROUND VOICES MAGAZINE/MARK JAMES ANDREWS


	UNDERGROUND VOICES: POETRY - 01/2012

MARK JAMES ANDREWS

As Midnight Fades into Dawn

I am staying tuned
to the big rug top man
as he leads me
thru the moral distinctions
between killing and murder
and just when he is beating
the fine points to death ha ha
his timing kicks in
and he shifts into overdrive
into a concept he calls Chrislam
foreshadowing his grand wrap-up
end times end times glory glory
as the camera keeps cutting away
to quick shots of his adoring wife
waiting in the wings
to belt out a spiritual
her wig hat is a bit off kilter
but that lipstick mouth
really delivers the message.

Requiem for an Editor

Some poems
you can scratch
from the program.

Some break stride
right out
of the gate.

Some place
some show
but plenty of winners

Those glorious
longshots
that pay off

not defeating
other poems
but the terrifying

passage of time
and the end game
of the finishing line.

Mark James Andrews is the author of Burning Trash (Pudding House, 2010). His writing has appeared in many print & online venues. You can look it up. He lives and writes approximately one mile outside the city limits of Detroit and currently has no guru, no method and no PHD.