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.)