I saw the moon
in my wine glass
and I thought of
Li Po
*
walking the greek islands
wearing only
Gucci sunglasses
*
chestnuts from Tuscany
the taste of retsina
I hunger for sex
in the morning
*
as I stare at
the volcano
in Santorini
I think Plato
was right
*
I play with my
Manchu lion
dog
there are
so many
universes
*
THE DISEMBODIED SCHOOL OF POETICS
I look up
smell incense
and balsam
beside the altar
Allen Ginsberg’s
sneakers
*
Sunday
listening to
Hellbound Train
Monday
haunting me
like a cat
rubbing up against me
meowing to be fed
*
a warm fire
a glass of merlot
a song by Satchmo
ain’t here long
*
sheets hang
on the line
my dog jumps
into the Fed Ex truck
again
we drink wine
another day
in the Salt City
*
old school
Marvin Gaye
Al Green
candles & wine
*
Siamese cats
travel
foreign films
art galleries
expensive wine
all life is suffering
*
haiku #69
at Paradise Beach
a man in shorts takes pictures
of naked bathers
*
20 years old in NYC
lying on my roof
with my black cat
like a character
from a John Sloan drawing
not thinking about
tomorrow
*
I love Greece
Mythos beer
Nescafe frappes
olive soap
mules
Trojans
and evil eyes
*
black Harleys
and people sipping
beer outside
the Dinosaur Barbeque
*
briefs
after sex
she sits naked
on the bed
watching him
put on his black
Calvin Kleins
*
glowing fireplace
cat and I stare idly
Guggenheim Fellowship
*
calligraphy
why doesn’t
the talent come
with the kit
*
my breasts
danced
in Greece
my hair
danced
in a gay bar
in Mykonos
called Jackie O’s
dancing
is how the world
began
*
the Santorini moonlight
on the stone wall
paler than
a white face
in a February
snowfall
in Syracuse, NY
*
fall asleep
in a hammock
under the sun
wake up
under stars
*
you
holding
the small glass
Murano pig
I got you
from Venice
that was enough
*
I thought I knew
blue and white
until I arrived in Greece
*
Rimbaud offered me a poem
Verlaine a glass of absinthe
and Baudelaire arrived in a bad mood
mumbling about
dead evil flowers
as the ambien wore off
*
better
not
sleep
with a
muse
they expect
too much
in the
morning
*
her and her
rooms
by the Aegean
*
is it a
Zen painting
or a black cat
on the grass
*
photo
of Burroughs
and his cat ginger
hope he didn’t
put an apple
on her head
*
we sit on my bed
with green tea
Buddha
in the corner
*
haven’t bathed
or done laundry
in days
in bed
with my cat
*
Kandinsky
shaman
your Russian
great grandmother
brought you
porcelain gifts
from the enchanted
Asian mountains
*
in a small
bookstore
in Athens
the poems of
George Seferiades
more passion for Greece
in his fingers
than in all the clacking
worry beads
muttered over
by ya-yas in black
*
looking up
at the
Greek sky
for the first time
I
understood
Miró's
Constellations
*
I wrote a haiku
today
and that was enough
to get me through
*
she couldn’t believe
that woman
was gone
for twenty years
she wrote the same poem
The One Who Loves More
adding words
erasing words
*
dream
in a bar
in Mykonos
a Picasso fisherman
got together
with Kerouac’s cat
*
TWO TIMES FOURTEEN, 1918 Paul Klee
love it
maybe it’s the fish
or the dog
or the bird
*
I’m writing
a poem
during a thunderstorm
my wine glass is rattling
I feel disjointed
like a woman
in a Picasso
it takes me five minutes
to light two blue candles
*
50
she’s somebody’s
accountant and
imagines herself
in leather
looking like
Joan Jett
*
in Greece
Siamese cat
purring
on Turkish rug
*
poem after Peter Layton
the Vietnam boys
the sergeant
the private
with a backpack
full of poems
the soldier
who shot himself in the foot
so he could go home
in the agent orange
covered grass
smoking weed
*
Van Gogh sits
another crow
in the field
*
Syracuse is a blues town
from the festivals
to the Dinosaur
let’s go to Soho
or Greece
or some leather bar
in Provincetown
and then to the horses
at Santa Anita
*
a fedora
in sun glasses
told me
she believed in Buddha
and Led Zeppelin
*
you walked by
wearing only
patchouli
and green emerald earrings
jeweled goblet in hand
total
illusion
*
Ash Wednesday
the twin towers
are down
*
after Cavafy
affair with a married woman
above a gay bar in Mykonos
the bed had satin sheets
the musk of her coming
and coming
her huge breasts
rising and pressing
against my mouth
those Thursday afternoons
even years later
*
naked young
Greek woman
lying
in the black sand
bright yellow sun
between her thighs
*
lips wet
with sea
our bodies sizzle
in the sun
*
I sit in the airport lounge
downing Xanax
and Bloody Marys
*
we lie on the grass
looking up at the Milky Way
another cup of sake please
*
all gods
are not created equal
Aphrodite
took the loin cloth
right off of Paris
*
Kurt Cobain
blond-haired
blue eyed
Little Prince
screams
into the mic
*
waiting for
a revolution
taking long lavender
bubble baths
*
RED
I know it
when I see
Matisse’s fish
I know it
when I see
Munch’s sky
*
I’ve kept my life simple
curling waves
fig trees in blossom
ruins shining in the sun
*
Mykonos
drinking ouzo
reading Homer
shamelessly
on the beach
*
it’s 3AM
I’m sitting up in bed
imagining Rilke in Paris
lovers spooning each other
it’s 3AM
I’m imagining
Thomas Merton in Bangkok
at a monk convention
wishing he had never touched
that fan
it’s 3AM
*
I’m scribbling
in my notebook
drinking green tea
Dorothy
on the farm
goats everywhere
Ulysses cruising
the Greek seas
*
Vincent had his sunflowers
Gauguin had his Polynesian women
Rimbaud had his Verlaine
and I have my cat
*
Delphi
Know thyself
Nothing in excess
Hah!
What about ouzo!
*
aching muscles
from paddling
eager to return
home to a fire
and meows
*
the ocean is shining
like a sapphire
I sit in a noisy outdoor café
sipping retsina
reading Cavafy
and the waiter
serves me the head
of John the Baptist
on a gold platter
*
I light a candle
to the Virgin
praying
to see straight
*
Delos
passport and euros
stuffed in our pockets
we wander around
the ruins
taking black and white
pictures of lions
and penises
*
1975. Spring?
Jack came back
without a leg
Mark didn’t come back
at all
it’s hard to keep dancing
to “The Hustle”
*
a mad cat
is hissing
clawing at my sandwich
as I sit down to eat
wearing khakis
and a North Face t-shirt
reading the lunch poems
*
my two worlds
one with you
drinking Mythos Beer
the other
where Charon waits
by the sea
for me
to put a gold coin
between his teeth
*
sipping absinthe
listening to
patti smith
sing easter
a song
about Rimbaud’s
1st communion
church bells clanging
we shall all rise
again
*
I never
wanted to go
to Greece
now
every night
I go to the plaka
*
Anthemoessa
a lifeboat
orange lifejacket
on the beach
somebody’s blue
toothbrush floating
on the water
these aren’t the sirens
I was expecting
*
ouzo
at the harbor café
called 9 Muses
of course
*
cats everywhere
rubbing up against
the sacred ruins
of Delphi
purring on the blue and white
streets of Santorini
cats in the Pathenon
of course!
*
she had Warhol’s journal with her
she loved the Saint of Animals
she recited verses in French
and stared for hours at the blue sea
smelling of absinthe
and Turkish hash
learning how to speak
in first person
*
Ulysses always roamed
the neighborhood
Penelope stayed home
Ulysses’ tattered ears
and smelly coat
told stories of adventure
Penelope’s pink paws
were silent
but she loved
to see him
come through the door
smell his fur
lick the salty adventures
right out of it
© 2009 Joan Cofrancesco. All rights reserved.