CORRIDOR
for kathy walk slow, my love give your eyes time to adjust statistics mean nothing here my prodigal princess if you fall it is far the railings have been removed just to make it interesting feel carefully you should have brought a cane the swift hot wind is not your enemy, my friend was it necessary to open that door? can you forgive yourself now in the midst of terror scarier than any movie because this time it’s you, my angel? i would have come with you if it weren’t so dark and lonely so narrow please believe me when i wish you luck, my light i still fear as much as pity you, my lost past my guiding star my shaken acrobat
ON THE HOUR
“Spring forward, fall back down”
1.
It rolled out from behind an easy chair
one wet March Monday morning
as I stared out the window
late again, one shoe on, at a passing
thought balloon about to burst—
into tears, primeval laughter or pure song.
2.
All summer long a rerun on a Stingray.
September: she was barefoot in a meadow . . .
3.
Button, button, autumn’s almost gone,
more sick of us than we are of ourselves.
The nights stretch out like cats inventing yoga
inside a cataleptic cuckoo clock
where sex-bored lovebirds call Death home.
Giant baby steps! Our darkest hour yet!
4.
My old man’s pocket watch is running fast.
Meantime, this big blue marble follows the sun.
MY OFFICE MY SELF
office hours in the Shroud of Smoke Café office hours en el baño office hours in the Carpal Syndrome Tunnel cash flow clogged? don't knock the pipes we'll make an adjustment office hours between rounds in the sack office hours in Capoeira class office hours on Mt. Tamalpais peak fall down go boom? don't have a cow we're always hiring office hours at the inaugural ball office hours in a windowless cell office hours on the Day of Atonement the doctor is in but his inner child is playing miniature golf office hours in the doghouse office hours on a bicycle-built-for-two
K.Lipschutz (formerly klipschutz) is the author of Mr. Congeniality (2021) and seven other collections of poetry, starting with The Erection of Scaffolding for the Re-Painting of Heaven by the Lowest Bidder (1985). He has also co-written over a hundred songs released by international recording artist Chuck Prophet. His Long Engagement: New & Selected Poems (1985–2023), assembled in conjunction with long-time supporter Brenda Hillman, is looking for a home. Current work in Cordite (Australia), the Taos Journal of Poetry (Nov. 2023), and Literary Cocktail (fall 2023. He lives in downtown San Francisco with Colette Jappy and three cats.
Love these!
The first two? Haunting, beautiful.
"walk slow, my love
give your eyes time to
adjust..."