Because Librarians, Longing to be Holy, Can Become Arsonists

Six very short poems

Hello, so here are six very short poems. Sometimes, I create a poetry form that leads me into obsession. So I wrote a ton of poems where the title of the poem is very much a part of the poem rather than just serving as an introduction. Perhaps a better way to say it is that a title usually serves as a front door to the house but I wanted the title to be a piece of furniture in the living room.

---

Because, for a Jester, Supermarket Flowers Resemble Redemption

Dear Spouse, I know that you’re dismayed

By my daily parade of flaming chainsaws and spinning plates,

But, please, with this humble bouquet, 

Can I offer one dozen apologies for my disarray?

Because a Food Chain, However Linked, is Never Linear

A tiger would never bother to eat any spider,

But a spider, given the chance, would eat a tiger.

Because, for Some Kids, High School and Funerals are First Cousins

He and Grief were deemed

Most Likely to Succeed.

Because, for the Bipolar, Suicide is a Persistent Insect Song

That butterfly’s wings are brown paper bags,

Flattened, battered by low pressure, unadorned.

But look at that other butterfly kaleidoscope and rise

Into the manic sky when it hears the epic buzz

Of a thousand thousand skull-faced hornets

Then recklessly dives into their newspapered hive.

Because the Son, However Beloved, Must Leave His Father

The arroyo misses the flood

As the marrow misses blood.

Because Librarians, Longing to Be Holy, Can Become Arsonists

The Church of Poetry has hired secular priests who’ve learned

That certain books, the disagreeable ones, are easy to burn.