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Desire Street
May, 1996
cyberspace chapbook of
The New Orleans Poetry Forum
established 1971
Desire, Cemeteries, Elysium
Listserv: DESIRE-Request@Sstar.Com
Email: Robert Menuet, Publisher
robmenuet@aol.com
Mail: Andrea S. Gereighty, President
New Orleans Poetry Forum
257 Bonnabel Blvd.
Metairie, La 70005
Programmer: Kevin R. Johnson
Copyright 1996, The New Orleans Poety Forum
(8 poems for May, 1996)
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Contents:
2200 Maine Avenue - 5 Months After
Absence
At Cumae
Of Arms and the Man
Shake N Bake
Vieux Carre'
Walking Along Prytania
We Are Like That You Know
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2200 Maine Avenue - 5 Months After
by Andrea Saunders Gereighty
In twilight darkening I sell your house
The whore of realty attacks my car
her hooks in Hickory, Dickory, Dock
Lost as mice her relatives, the attorney.
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck six
Nothing clicks into place
So I am down the clock, rat
in a maze, no exit from any angle
Oxygen leaves the room; mortgage company rep
enters.
Lime green carpet buyers file in
Interested in dollars, breaking heaters
So I'll purchase anew
They desecrate your rooms
Slather blurs of blue clouds
Poodles piss on pink carpets
Your smell, your smile, your memory
409ed from floors and baseboards
Base whores, steal what's yours
Prorate the rate thirty percent.
I valium these harlots of houses
Scream inward and sign
The diazepam holds my CNS in check
I must pen checks to those who'd
Split your bricks, your boards splinter
on a role of dice.
Forgive me; I know what I do.
That is the horror.
Prodigals want their share, Practical, perhaps like
ants
Put it away for winter weather.
In 75 degrees I am cold
The clammy reach of the grave
stirs your ashes and
I pray to the goddess with whom you play
to get me through this deed.
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Absence
by Barbara Lamont
she died
just gave up
i'm not up to par
she said, in Polish
i want to go home.
The doctor simply said
terminal.
Stan came for the keys
to my empty house
got lost
in the supermarket parking lot
stumbling out the rear entrance
clutching foil wrapped
lilacs in a pot
I showed him when and where to enter
where to sit
with his feisty band of poets
where tofind coffee tea and juice
and of course where and how to exit.
He turned to give me a hug
at first embarrassed
by his wooly bulk
coming on to me
I thought.
Then I remembered
my grief
like an old smelly sock
stuffed away
in a corner
ripewith sweat
and passion.
Bonnie will know, I think
that if she sets off my alarm
seven Uzi toting dwarfs
with machetes
will screech to a halt
in my driveway
and blow her away.
Bonnie, serious poet
teaching small people
in her spare time
the fine craft of words
counterpart to Stan
whose last name I don't know
I only know
it is said of him
"oh Stan
he has more time"
like a gift
spoken to describe
a rich uncle
or a polo playing prince.
As we hug
I envy this man
possessed of time
yet preoccupied with Jesus.
What need for the rabbi
when I have such poets
and lilacs too?
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At Cumae
by Robert Menuet
Doctor, cut round
the neck; fold the
head back on its spine,
shine your torch to peer
inside the breast. What's
this? No lights, no liver,
no poems, no pluck.
The bells for vespers
sound; quick, unhinge
him, bring the head
to chapel; the priest
will make it sing.
Father, put it on the altar,
open wide its eyes, wipe them
with linen dipped with
unction. The words
you speak will make
a man. The oracle will sing
by matins. Look, inside
the mouth, is that a coin?
No, a piece of meat.
How many dreams
dreamt he? See the tip:
more than tongue
could tell.
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Of Arms and the Man
by Nancy Cotton
A Thursday afternoon, rain,
No one shopping in menswear,
Absence stretching its arms into
Every sleeve. Off guard, disconsolate,
Suddenly, I'm standing on the exact
Coordinates of longing, the site,
Where I once lived,
You offered your shoulders
To obedient, fortunate shirts,
Your eyes naked,
Dared paltry hangings to try them on.
Transfixed, I collide with what
Was bodied in you. I want
To escape the wreckage,
But something Proustian in plainclothes
Holds me protesting,
Like a shoplifter to the spot.
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Shake N Bake
by Craig A Fisher
Grasshopper
cane pole
blue gill
trout
spikey legs
mandible
tall grass
hops
bass bait
bayou
brown water
slough
cast iron skillet
pan fried
too
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Vieux Carre'
by Paul Chasse
Worlds end,
streetlight halo
Stone dreams begin
On these lustful
Streets between midnight
accidental whorehouse
Wandering. Ancient footsteps on
Greasy cobblestones
river fog breaths jaded
desire into cool
dawn's grey awakening
windows
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Walking Along Prytania
by Athena O. Kildegaard
long after
porch lights, we listen
to water bubbling
in a stranger's yard.
A fountain bleating
in a crabbed garden!
Such a paradise
is so rude--
all flowers, no roots.
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We Are Like That You Know
by kevin R. johnson
We are like that you know; two
little kids throwing rocks at
someone's grave reminded me that
I always wished you could kill.
I would bury them under a newly
planted dogwood like the one we
had & carve on it a loud new
history to silence my name from
repeating what happened to me &
you from pouring yourself out
through your mouth wrinkled
fingers & knotted hair soaked
in black-outs & bones & sly
deterences flowing over your
lips that have kissed children
to sleep & monsters with teeth
clenched together to hold in
what they wanted you to say &
tears that washed off finger-
prints from your throat where
for years you were held down as
your heart flooded with bruises
knowing God wouldn't forget &
everyone would be happy. Though
I have tried many things, I want
you to know I can't do that either.
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THE POETS OF DESIRE STREET
Paul Chasse
Nancy Cotton is an immigration attorney.
Craig A Fisher
Andrea Saunders Gereighty owns and manages New Orleans
Field Services Associates, a public opinion polls business and is
currently the president of the New Orleans Poetry Forum. Her
poetry has appeared in many journals, as well as in her book,
ILLUSIONS AND OTHER REALITIES.
Kevin Johnson, Piscean, enjoys Tequila under the stars and
writes about the physiology of nothingness.
Athena O. Kildegaard is a freelancer writer and mother and
makes time between for writing poetry.
Barbara Lamont writes about fear.
Robert Menuet is a psychotherapist, marital therapist, and
clinical supervisor. He is a former social planner.
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ABOUT THE NEW ORLEANS POETRY FORUM
The New Orleans Poetry Forum, a non-profit organization, was
founded in 1971 to provide a structure for organized readings and
workshops. Poets meet weekly in a pleasant atmosphere to
critique works presented for the purpose of improving the writing
skills of the presenters. From its inception, the Forum has
sponsored public readings, guest teaching in local schools, and
poetry workshops in prisons. For many years the Forum
sponsored the publication of the New Laurel Review, underwritten
by foundation and government grants.
Meetings are open to the public, and guest presenters are
welcome. The meetings generally average ten to 15 participants,
with a core of regulars. A format is followed which assures
support for what is good in each poem, as well as suggestions
for improvement. In many cases it is possible to trace a poet's
developing skill from works presented over time. The group is
varied in age ranges, ethnic and cultural background, and styles
of writing and experience levels of participants. This diversity
provides a continuing liveliness and energy in each workshop
session.
Many current and past participants are published poets and
experienced readers at universities and coffeehouses worldwide.
One member, Yusef Komunyakaa, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize
for Poetry for 1994. Members have won other distinguished
prizes and have taken advanced degrees in creative writing at
local and national universities.
Beginning in 1995, The New Orleans Poetry Forum has
published a monthly electronic magazine, Desire Street, for
distribution on the Internet and computer bulletin boards. It is
believed that Desire Street is the first e-zine published by an
established group of poets. Our cyberspace chapbook contains
poems that have been presented at the weekly workshop
meetings, All poems presented at Forum meetings may be
published in their original form unless permisssion is specifically
withheld by the poet. Revisions are accepted until the publication
deadline of Desire Street. Publication is in both message and file
formats in various locations in cyberspace.
Workshops are held every Wednesday from 8:00 PM until
10:30 at the Broadmoor Branch of the New Orleans Public
Library, 4300 South Broad, at Napoleon. Annual dues of $10.00
include admission to Forum events and a one-year subscription to
the Forum newsletter, Lend Us An Ear. To present, contact us
for details and bring 15 copies of your poem to the workshop.
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COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Desire Street, May,1996 copyright 1996, The New Orleans
Poetry Forum. 8 poems for May, 1996. Message format: 13
messages for May, 1996. Various file formats.
Desire Street is a monthly electronic publication of the New
Orleans Poetry Forum. All poems published have been presented
at weekly meetings of the New Orleans Poetry Forum by
members of the Forum.
The New Orleans Poetry Forum encourages widespread
electronic reproduction and distribution of its monthly magazine
without cost, subject to the few limitations described below. A
request is made to electronic publishers and bulletin board
system operators that they notify us by email when the
publication is converted to executable, text, or compressed file
formats, or otherwise stored for retrieval and download. This is
not a requirement for publication, but we would like to know who is
reading us and where we are being distributed. Email:
robmenuet@aol.com (Robert Menuet). We also publish this
magazine in various file formats and in several locations in
cyberspace.
Copyright of individual poems is owned by the writer of each
poem. In addition, the monthly edition of Desire Street is
copyright by the New Orleans Poetry Forum. Individual copyright
owners and the New Orleans Poetry Forum hereby permit the
reproduction of this publication subject to the following limitations:
The entire monthly edition, consisting of the number of
poems and/or messages stated above for the current month, also
shown above, may be reproduced electronically in either message
or file format for distribution by computer bulletin boards, file
transfer protocol, other methods of file transfer, and in public
conferences and newsgroups. The entire monthly edition may be
converted to executable, text, or compressed file formats, and
from one file format to another, for the purpose of distribution.
Reproduction of this publication must be whole and intact,
including this notice, the masthead, table of contents, and other
parts as originally published. Portions (i.e., individual poems)
of this edition may not be excerpted and reproduced except
for the personal use of an individual.
Individual poems may be reproduced electronically only by
express paper-written permission of the author(s). To obtain
express permission, contact the publisher for details. Neither
Desire Street nor the individual poems may be reproduced on
CD-ROM without the express permission of The New Orleans
Poetry Forum and the individual copyright owners. Email
robmenuet@aol.com (Robert Menuet) for details.
Hardcopy printouts are permitted for the personal use of a
single individual. Distribution of hardcopy printouts will be
permitted for educational purposes only, by express permission of
the publisher; such distribution must be of the entire contents of
the edition in question of Desire Street. This publication may not
be sold in either hardcopy or electronic forms without the express
paper-written permission of the copyright owners.
FIN *********************************************** FIN