Things that Go Bump in the Night

A poem for Halloween night.

From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!

On the Road: Grasshopper, Kerouac and the Vesuvio Cafe

Poetry on Jack Kerouac Alley.

When the shadow of the grasshopper
Fall across the trail of the field mouse
On green and slimey grass as a red sun rises
Above the western horizon silhouetting
A gaunt and tautly muscled Indian warrior
Perched with bow and arrow cocked and aimed
Straight at you it's time for another martini.

For Lucas and Nathan and Nola

Boys on horseback in Mexico.

Baby goats licking the fence
A crab holding a Corona cap
Black iguana resting on a stack of tires
A globo with spines that would more than tickle you
Two parrots that don’t say, "Hola"
And a monkey dancing in a cage.

The Dark Angel of Lionel Johnson

The minstrel of mine epitaph.

Dark Angel, with thine aching lust
To rid the world of penitence:
Malicious Angel, who still dost
My soul such subtile violence!