[an error occurred while processing this directive]
Books by Richard Denner

ICE MOON
Poems by Richard Denner
Cover by author
Artwork by Claude Smith
BOX OF NERVES

walking on the sea shore sea surf
sand dunes sand in my shoes
salt sun sea sand in my hair
rock water mist air waves breaking
sea foam sea weed sea wreck serenity

dearth decay division disaster
when I come back to town
I feel like a robot standing in a haze
tape hiss follows me
I'm sure a demon is eating my wiring

the chair says, "gow"
the light bulb says, "phat"
the bed says, "let the snake coil
and the tiger bite"




Second Boiling
Poems by Richard Denner
Cover and Artwork
by Claude Smith
CALENDAR ART
for Claude

tIME IS.
tIME WAS.
tIME WASN'T.

Lunch Wed w/Tamara @ Slice of Life
Poetry Slam Burbank Cntr 2nd Mondays
Teens Against Voilent TV tonight

I peek through a keyhole of soul.
Been here and gone.

/we/they/dispered in a black hole
in reckless space,
leaving only a few after-dots.

Talking Trash
Poems by Richard Denner
Cover by Gaela Morrison
MORE LIGHT

my father gulps air
jaw slack, hands astray
in front of the TV
sound on full blast

he says he can’t make out the words
but the music helps him sleep
it’s Ida Lupino Month
May and December

his 75th Masonic Anniversary
at the Luther Burbank Lodge tonight
proud he can walk to the East
worried he won’t remember the Word

how to tie his tie is a real mystery
his first car, a 1916 Buick
I drive into the fire
to help him there
NUTCRACKER
for Lulu

everyone listen up
this is a beautiful woman

this is a beautiful woman
so I sing

there's something special
about her toes

and she knows
she has those toes

she points to a pair
of point shoes

I catch a reflection
of her smile

and I forget
what I've got going

Cow Songs
Poems by Richard Denner
Cover by Jane Booth
Artwork by author
SINGING TO THE COWS

When I see the moon rising
I think of a cow I saw in Arkansas
and I feel sad.

When I think of the years passing
and worry about my knees blowing out
I only need to see your cow eyes
and I’m rejuvenated.

I think of you every day
sweet heifer on the ferryboat
between Sebastopol and Bucyrus.

Looking through an old yearbook
I see your bovine face
and remember you on rollerskates
at Mel’s Drive-In.
EVOLVED AND ECLIPSED

I took my pigs for a walk
two gilts and a young boar.
Kicking and barking
we frolicked in the fields.

The moon arose.
The moon descended.
The bear and the hunter,
the warrior, the lovers.


Flying White
Poems by Richard Denner
Cover by Claude Smith
Collages by author
SOUL LIGHT

After midnight.
Your image is still before me.
After midnight.
Hours have passed.

Encountering each tiny sensation,
I gather up the warm truths
and the sad ones
in the late light.

Riddled by love,
shot full of shafts,
I fly through the roof
into a night of stars.

Stay, like a star,
until dawn.
Turn,
but return.


AT THE CENTER IS FIRE

I take note of the naked
zero

in the spinning fall of leaves

and guage the browns and reds
of frost.

Bear Dance
Poems by Richard Denner
Cover by Luis Garcia
SO HIGH YOU KISSED THE SKY
for Steve

Thinking of the past, not seeing you
in the future, listening to the melody
of galactic globes at aphelion—snowflakes
catch me dreaming of white sand beaches.

The mashed thumb of the moon arises.
Just do a folded wing snaproll, then soar
for the horizon. Direct your flight
towards Proxima Centauri.

Interstellar conditions favoring eclipsing
binaries are methodologically determined
by trigonometric parallaxes. Fats Waller
blows Tea for Two on the intercom.
BEAR DANCE

I am a hand
unconscious of design
performing a miracle of signs
—frozen mind—
one with the big picture,
a bear dancing with the sky.

The Spot
Poems by Richard Denner
Cover and artwork
by Luis Garcia
SPIT IN THE OCEAN

58 this Sunday, how did I get to be 58?
taking mom to IHOP for potato pancakes
seeing a sign advertising one free meal
with the order of two for senior citizens
I’m unable to take advantage of the savings
frustrated insecure low self esteem low
grade depression impotency introversion
freaked out flipped out and flustered

a lot of this going around
maybe I need mistletoe injections maybe
I need Viagra maybe I need more yang
in my diet do a few pushups along with
the qigong and a class at the JC relax
quit worring about what LIFE means enjoy
my millennial anxieties and Y2K paranoia
nothing serious here just a momentary
meltdown



hOME pOEMS 1 pOEMS 2 WaveTwisters hISTORY oRDER