The Ventriloquist Wakes Up For His Balloon Ride - A Sonnet

1. It was like Germany was waiting
2. For the rest of us
3. To get the hang of it.

4. You use your years
5. You try to learn
6. Be a good enemy
7. Let your sympathies
8. Veer from the deer
9. And the antelope
10. And the leer
11. And the pope
12. Divine-rodding instead
13. At a pint-sized synaptic dip
14. Toward a density of pigeons.

15. And what happens?
16. You get all mammonized
17. And divorcing your shadow again
16. With perspicuous arguments
15. Of Euclidean intent.

14. And you're just kidding.


---

Burning Daylight

When I was young I would sometimes hide
In damp underground living rooms
Hollowed out beneath the
Atlantic ocean beach nearby.

Lazy afternoons cajoling
The dentist's canny daughters,
Valerie and Victoria,
To come and join me there.

We had a mat and some wineskins.
And no shirts allowed.
With a fanlight and periscope we could watch
The wind blowing tourist's hats off.

As the ocean rose
We'd laugh at my brother
Paddling by on a homemade raft.
Followed in close pursuit by the dentist,
Screaming the names
Of his disappearing daughters,
Nectar and spittle flying back into his face,
My old man's hat
Glued fast to his massive dentist head.

     I am a software exec. and I do secret internet foo. I live near Boston, Massachusetts and spend a lot of time in San Francisco.
     I began writing poetry a few years ago in a brave but ultimately feckless attempt to stave off a canonical entrapment breakdown.
     I sometimes write with a pseudonym: Yorick_Nixon. I also write music and play musical instruments. I was a member of Boston noise band Inner Beauty and San Francisco improv combo Senator Buchanon. With the members of Inner Beauty I co-authored a pre-web internet published dystopic novel entitled "Skunk Angst".
     Any spare time I have I read Shakespeare or listen to Bach. Bach seems to be the one thing all nerds agree on. I've lost touch with my culture. Though my friend Janet has turned me onto Cat Power. My only firmly held cultural belief is that Chan Marshall of Cat Power is kind of a babe.