THE EVILS OF CHASIN' PUSSY

    I'm takin' my cat for a walk.
    The way that works is
    she goes an' I chase after.
    When I was younger, I'd run fast,
    find myself in strange places.
    Now I wheeze an' find 'em too.

    Last week she leads me to this open space.
    'bout a hundred three foot high kids
    are whackin' the shit outa each other,
    chasin' footballs in ten fields
    separated by strings on sticks.
    Ole guys an' some women are screamin' ona sidelines:
    "Hit em!" "Get it!" "Run!" "Crush em!"
    "Fight, you limp dicks, Fight!"


    COARSE OFFERINGS

    My buddy Steel City Steve keeps buggin' me
    'bout improvin' myself.
    Go to college, he says,
    check out the chicks.
    OK for him, he ain't that old
    an' he don't stink, least not much.

    So he hands me this sheet
    from the local college—
    courses for the spring.
    I pretend to read, glance at a few, turn the page.
    What the hell is this? I say,
    pointin' to the spot which says:
    "Cunnilingus for Co-eds."
    He tells me.
    No shit, I say, you gotta be kiddin'.
    No, no, he says, it's the latest thing—
    got a syllabus, exams, and a lab too.
    But forget it. They ain't gonna let you in.
    Maybe you should try this one.
    I look to where he's pointin':
    "How to Expand Your Asshole," it reads.

    Nah, maybe some other time, I tell him.


    THE LEPRECHAUN CIRCUS

    Little red-haired people runnin' around,
    "Kiss me arse! Kiss me arse!" they shoutin',
    droppin' drawers, wigglin' wrinkled cheeks.

    Them's the bosses, I'm told.
    An' there's a long line of perfessor types
    waitin' for a turn.

    Now I ain't never seen it myself
    but my bar buddy Steve
    teaches at a college an' tells me it's so.
    I gotta believe him. We share lotsa stuff.
    Besides, he's educated an' ought to know.

    Anyway, I look real close at his lips
    an' think maybe it ain't such a good idea
    if we drink from the same bottle no more.


 

Joe Lisowski
     Stashu Kapinski, the guy who wrote these poems, is a sometime bum living in my skin. He doesn't get out much, but when you hear (and smell) him, you know he's noone else. He's pissed about a lot of things--being out of work for so long, the steel mills in Pittsburgh closing down, getting old, the price of beer, you name it. But he hasn't given up. There are still moments when he feels like the King of Polish Hill.
      After 10 years as Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, Joseph Lisowski is now teaching at Mercyhurst College North East along the shores of Lake Erie. If you look real hard, you can find him sticking on the web in spots like Thunder Sandwich, Niederngasse, Serpentine, Wired Art for Wired Hearts, Born Magazine, The Isle Review, Free Zone Quarterly, etc.

poetry editor New Works Review

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