Look, pa, I got a bone
to bury with you. I dug
your grave all day just to do it
well. I practiced. Like you
taught me. With bruises
on my lips I sang elegy.
I remembered you that time
we all went to Christmas
tree shopping together.
I had isopropyl breath,
but yours stank like hearse.
Momma got mugged
by that hoodie fellow
that night. In ma’s head
she keeps getting mugged.
Glad you made her feel
something if not better.
We took the tree home
on the train. The cadets
and bachelorettes admired
its pine needles. You were on
something, onto something:
they wanted the sticky of sap,
they didn’t care nothing
if we got lost or trapped.
We found exits. Were you sure
we should take all of them
at once? I think it’s best
if you leave now. I think
it’ll be easier to get this
over with. I’ve got a shovel,
I can save you the trouble
of saving yourself. Lord
knows neither of us
would last very long
sitting canned on a shelf.
— Peter Burzynski
Peter Burzynski is a second-year PhD student in Creative Writing-Poetry at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a M.F.A. in Poetry from The New School University, and a M.A. in Polish Literature from Columbia University.
In between his studies, Peter has worked as a Sous-Chef in New York City and Milwaukee. His poetry has appeared in The Best American Poetry Blog, Yes Poetry, Thrush Poetry Review, Your Impossible Voice, The Unrorean, BORT Quarterly, Hobo Pancakes,The Great Lakes Review, Kritya, Bar None Group, Zombie Logic Review, Souvenir Lit Journal, White Stag Journal, and Fuck Poems Anthology. He has poems forthcoming from RHINO, Prick of the Spindle, The Mackinac, The Portland Review, and Forklift Ohio.
Marplot is the second of four Peter Burzynski poems that the Bar None Group will feature over the course of four months — poems that touch on Christmas, winter and, in the eyes of this reader, the debauchery that is Mardi Gras in New Orleans. We first met Peter at the 2011 Academy of American Poets Awards Ceremony in New York City where he shared with us his poem, Cemetery.
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