New Poetry by Paul Koniecki

i tried on my father’s pants

i tried toughskin and corduroy
polyester chino cotton rayon

i tried on my father’s pants
and they were too long

i traced pictures of scorpions
on graph paper and hid them

in the miniature coin pockets
of his jeans folded laser tight

i tried on overalls
and the onesies mechanics wear

i tried on costumes and starch
spells spelling poison five fingered

death-touch curses nunchuck
training don’t ask me what i do

to make a living
ask me what i do to make a life

i am the still blue figure

the dead lake
the terrible mirror

typing like a moon
i am the little boy waiting

to grow eight legs
and a barbed tail

sting the sun
and the hand that placed

it there
make a desert of the sky


© Paul Koniecki 2020

Paul Koniecki lives and writes in Dallas, Texas. He was once chosen for the John Ashbery Home School Residency. He is the Associate Editor of Thimble Literary Journal. His books of poetry are available from Kleft Jaw Press, NightBallet Press, Dark Particle Press, and Spartan Press.