UNDERGROUND VOICES MAGAZINE/JOHN DORSEY


	UNDERGROUND VOICES: POETRY

JOHN DORSEY

sonnet river
for caroline gauger

when you said that
i had always reminded
you of a cross
between walt whitman and
ted berrigan it made
me blush as if
the ability to drink
a whole box of
really cheap wine was
the new definition of
                                sexy

as if the real
purpose of an orgasm
was to make lies
feel like truth if
only for a
                moment

i thought perhaps
the dead truly aren't
prisoners of their own
magic but simply immune
to the scent of
its
        beauty

many mornings i've dreamt
i was in tulsa in
1959 a once sacred
homeland of the pepsi
cola muse composed of
a river of sonnets
made just so they
could swim through the
dreams of a more
innocent
                nation

somehow i always wake
up imagining a rose
in the center of
my palm and think
of you there sitting
by the window in
love with its
                meaning

modern war toys for dead indians

here we plant lies
like fresh flowers in
ancient dirt ghosts exhaling
the fumes of love
and wisdom and really good
                                            dope

the heart beats a
cool breeze along the
lips of shadows and
i am grateful for
the sun's insincerity for
the
      moment

thankful for the loveletters
exchanged amongst the
                               dead

i feel blessed when
old lies feel new
and come bearing the
gift of words ripe
with promise and new
lies taste like dirt
under the summer heat
where we campaign for war
toys the fruits of
our labors of fear
spent on death &
dying with
                honor

i wonder what that
feels
            like

John Dorsey currently resides in Toledo, OH. He is
the author of "Harvey Keitel, Harvey Keitel, Harvey
Keitel" with S.A. Griffin and Scott Wannberg,
Butchershop Press/Rose of Sharon Press/Temple of Man,
2005, and "Moshing With The Cosmos" with Iris Berry,
Magenta Press, 2005. He can be reached at
archerevans@yahoo.com