poemoftheweek poemoftheweek.com poemoftheweek.org poem of the week
08-21-2019
Luke J Johnson
Bee Fennel
I trapped bees in boxes
& carried them to the neighbor’s blind son.
Set them loose. Praised their frantic undulations,
their search for someone to serve,
then left him, bitten, tongue partly swollen,
stomach distended & scabbed. Edit: I did not
simply set them free in the blind boy’s hair. I
wooed them with candy & blew smoke through
a hole in the box until they dropped dizzy.
Plucked their stingers. Drowned the queen
& smiled as her wings folded into soda pop.
Promised the boy a taste of fennel, hot joy
thrumming his throat. He opened. Teeth
clean. Teeth like washed windows. Tasted
my kiss. Unraveled my tongue inside his.
(Originally published in Porter Gulch Review)
Like a Fish Gasping
Did I tell you a boy was walking home from school, when a woman
asked him if he’d like a cup of juice?
Did I tell you Jonah heard his mother’s voice and muted her concern?
Did I tell you the woman grew angry, began to weep, threatened
to follow him home?
Did I tell you Jonah ran?
Did I tell you she set her three dogs free to harm him?
Did I tell you Jonah found his home, but the back door was locked?
Did I tell you Jonah ran?
Did I tell you Jonah never said no, that he found her offer kind, and besides,
she was an elderly woman anyway?
Did I tell you the home was large with locked windows, no dogs?
Did I tell you Jonah sat down, his brow was warm, he needed just a sip?
Did I tell you he had more than a sip?
Did I tell you as he drank his body began to wobble, he fell, that he dreamed
of fish fondled by blades?
Did I tell you he woke with bloody fingers?
Did I tell you he was my friend, he loved fingers, he liked to suck fingers?
Did I tell you Jonah ran?
Did I tell you he woke with his pants undone and a broom stick up his ass?
Did I tell you Jonah liked fingers?
I offered my fingers, found pleasure, strange pleasure, felt shame, I
silenced the Lord.
Did I tell you I silenced the Lord?
Did I tell you I woke with a sheet over my mouth and Jonah began to piss?
Did I tell you I swallowed piss?
I gasped like a fish out of waves.
Did I tell you I swallowed piss?
Did I tell you Jonah ran, never came home, his body a house
without windows?
Did I tell you Jonah ran?
Did I tell you he put a gun to his head and did what the whispers wanted?
Did I tell you it wasn’t his fault?
(Originally published at Misfit.net)
:boys
– to Smitty, Sam, Slick Nic, Mortimer and Dave
In a barn
choked by rusty tools
and ragweed
we stood
in a riotous circle
watching
fetal mice fill
their fresh lungs with air
when Smitty
behind a tribal smile
pulled a blade
from his back pocket
and began
to slice one down the abdomen
with ball point precision
each of us stone-silent
and cold
as Smitty unsnapped
the sternum
like a bloody brassiere
then moved toward
the heart
a porous drum
swelling in his fingers.
(Originally published in the Asheville Poetry Review)
-From :boys, Blue Horse Press, 2019.
Prompt: As in Luke J. Johnson's "Like a Fish Gasping," compose a narrative poem made up almost entirely of questions. As always, have fun.
Bio: LUKE J JOHNSON'S chapbook, :boys, was released July of 2019, with Blue Horse Press. His poems can be found or are forthcoming at Kenyon Review, Florida Review, Narrative, Nimrod, Tinderbox, Connotation, Greensboro Review, and others. He was a Finalist for both the Pablo Neruda Prize and the Brett Elizabeth Jenkins Award, and completed his MFA at Sierra Nevada College.
