Sunday, March 21, 2021

New Poetry by Doug Holder










A Bag of Flesh with Bright Blue Eyes

All the world
weighed in 
on his body.
Its baggage
rounded his shoulders,
forced his head
towards the pavement--

The owner of
a hirsute couple
of graying breasts
his legs
as thin as a hawk's
does a vaudevillian
shuffle across 
the street.

His white pubic beard
covers a small fossil.

But his eyes
cruel,
blue gimlets
shine
mocking it all..

Not dead
like the eyes of
the Cod
you saw staring
at you at Market Basket
they bitch slap
you in the mirror
each morning
with some azure
fantasy
of years ago..

They just won't
let you go.


- © Doug Holder 2021


Doug Holder is the founder of the Ibbetson Street Press. His work has appeared in Iodine, Hazmat, Caesura, and many others. He teaches writing at Endicott College in Beverly, Ma. His latest collection is " The Essential Doug Holder" ( Big Table Books.)

1 comment:

Eva Marie Cagley said...

Excellent!