Carnival
Welcome to the sacredly profane
and always sanguine carnival
A bare-bones world made with
saxophones trombones
And cigarette smoke rings blown
from hot lipstick lips
Anyone willing to sweat out
god’s lost fever may enter
But once admitted the shadowy
tent you cannot readily get out
Because savage light swings
wildly casting phantom glances
And the cacophonous chords
played by fallen watchers
Disorientates sinners and
saints alike who clap and stomp together
It is not yet morning and the
drive to abandon reason is strong
Let her go son let her fade
into the slippery atmosphere
She belongs among all things
vacuous and ethereal
Fight the devil’s knife tongue
attached to your hallowed ear
Perhaps the most desperate
character is also mostly honest
And the greatest revenge is
spitting daffodils instead of flames
Maybe the only way to get out
is to let go again
Because in a shadow world only
real objects can be lovers or friends
- Kevin Del Principe 2012
In addition to writing poetry, Kevin Del Principe writes for the screen and
stage. He is currently an M.F.A. Writing for the Screen and
Television candidate at the University of Southern California.
I love this, the way its voice rolls inexorably from the first syllable to the very last. There's also, if I can compared it to smoked meat, a smoky taste that's almost noir, certainly a darker undercurrent that informs the whole, and that gives it a certain solidity and depth of affect.
ReplyDeleteI hope it's only the first of many poems by Kevin to appear here.