New Titles:
THREE DAYS ROAD (is at the printers!!)
THE HALF OF IT (out 2009)
chapbooks
And
"Permission to Treat as Hostile"the evasive poem under self-examination - essays by Borax Flosser
Note: PoleKatPress does not accept unsolicited manuscripts and does not solicit manuscripts. Unsolicited material will be discarded.
Killer Ironic
my favorite kind of
irony is
KILLER killer irony
like that killer scene in
west side story where
tony believes maria is dead
cause that’s what anita said
told his gang she was
cause they fucked with her and THAT DID IT!
she was done hoping and trying to cope
already crying over tony who killed her
bernardo her lover
was dead and she said “maria is not coming
chino killed her she’s dead”
happens sooOOFAST! gang tells tony
and he’s in spasms of agony
he comes out right out in the
open screaming cause he’s done
hoping and can’t cope and he’s
not joking yelling like keening “chino!”
he screams “come and get me too!”
and maria sees tony and he sees her see him and they see chino with his gun FIRE! and it’s done
and its KILLER! ironic
tempting fate and
learn too late you
died by mistake
from "The Half Of It" poems by Katharine Polenberg coming 2009
Jaw Breaker
candy & wallpaper were both ugly then
and childhood should have
fluoride smiles
instead
the red white and striped
foil and felt with bald spots in
the nicotine yellow
a stink of pink mixed
with grays anatomy blues
we were as washable
paper thin
coated
stamped
with bugs wings
as big as bed sheets frolick quietly off
the under lying
horsehair plaster warped
and peeling landing
in the mouths of
children like us
so young
we had canines
but wisdoms didn't come
in for years no bite
yet a dump
clean enough to
stuff
calico and swallow some homespun
filth
jaws
pink elastic to snap back fast in shape
for the rote recital quote:
"Fine, thank you."
and now lollipops are only
jawbreakers
with a stick for a clue
.
a version of this poem was previously published in "West Memphis Witch Hunt" anthology available from Lulu Press
