Duane Locke
A GOOD PERSON
Stalked by ancient voices,
Nostalgic for pink sheets in summer cabins.
He hid in the thorns and thickets of lottery tickets.
His face was licked by the tongue
Of a number that wore a black pants suit to Sunday school.
He lived as if a bullet in a coma,
Carried a flashlight through colonnades
So he could read the graffiti
Written by children on the columns.
He copied the words in a spiral bound notebook,
Used as lyrics when turning a Johann Sebastain Bach fugue
Into a popular song about nymphs
Drinking gin under green and black umbrellas.
He kept a skeleton in his closet,
Called the bones, †œHis wife.†
He put a blonde wig on the skull,
Combed it seven times a day.
He smeared vermilion over the place
On the bones that used to her lips.
One afternoon after an epiphany he changed
The names of the bones to †œDaughter.†
ARRIVAL AT THE CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD
When I first arrived in Tampa,
The city of skulls and bolita balls.
I found everyone was buried,
Only their heads stuck out of cement graves,
So they stuck out their tongues
To rub across lipstick smeared on a beer bottle
Shaped to resemble Helen of Troy's adolescent lips.
It was a city of warped billiard balls
And homebrew in the back room behind swinging doors
With over-peppered chili sold up front.
It was the city of the short half-pint
And hair tonic with fifty percent alcohol.
The voting booths were surrounded
By barbed wire and sawed-off shotguns.
THE EYES OF THE MOON
All planes were grounded
Because the moon opened one eye.
Walls were built around all cities
So the darkness could be x-rayed
And frisked before being allowed to enter.
It was learned that darkness had only one rib
That was made from the thoughts of the zithers
Plucked by Thamar and Ammnon.
Some said that darkness carried a pot of geraniums
With a pink cricket hiding under the leaves
That sung a song about the shadows
Of ghost crabs crossing long salt flats.
Others disputed the discovery, said it was
Semirande wearing a black pants suit
And carrying a pink parasol to the South Pole.
One frightened man said darkness
Carried two baskets filled
With the ashes of burned carnations.
The people were in panic, fearing
That the moon might open both eyes.
WIND
A wind of curls that wore a black pants suit
Raced by to flap the flag and chase
The spinning pigeons off the rooftops.
In the bedrooms, the beds put eyeglasses
On their sheets who gazed through the wallpaper
Over the heads of paper roosters
And the stems and curves of red apples
To take notes on the shape of the wind's legs.
The photographs atop the piano took out
Sketch books and created one-stroke Japanese paintings.
Each stroke duplicated the wrinkles in the wind's knees.
The wind blew by and the mirrors changed their images
From the wind's legs to moonlit trap doors.
FOOTSTEPS
The footsteps that remained inside the floor's
Rug-covered wood recalled what last month's
Footsteps left from when the footsteps
Departed from the curls and scars of city rivers.
The footsteps left a drop of quivering water
On a pigeon†˜s, colored like a white orchid, fallen feather,
Drops of paralyzed tears and their crutches
On a flock of gray gravel that had closed their eyes
And wobbled towards broken glass covering grasses.
The footsteps splashed as if the wood were water,
Splashed against the cobwebs on the ceiling and fell
On the bottoms of white chairs and evaporated
To leave long rows of white circles.
E-mail: duanelocke@netzero.net
[BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE: Duane Locke, Doctor of Philosophy in English Renaissance literature, Professor Emeritus of the Humanities, was Poet in Residence at the University of Tampa for over 20 years. Has had over 2,000 of his own poems published in over 500 print magazines such as American Poetry Review, Nation, Literary Quarterly, Black Moon, and Bitter Oleander. Is author of 14 print books of poems, the latest print book is WATCHING WISTERIA ( to order write Vida Publishing, P.O. Box 12665, Lake, Park, FL. 33405-0665, or Amazon or Barnes and Noble). Since September 1999, he became a cyber poet and started submitting on-line, and since September 1999 he has added to his over 2,000 print acceptances with 2238 acceptances by e zines.
Recently, Two E books published February 2002.:
THE SQUID'S DARK INK, published by Ze Books, http.//www.blquanbeck.com.zebooks. Inquire: NOVLNymph@aol.com, or Ward708@aol.com.
FROM A TINY ROOM, published in Spain by OTO'S E-BOOKs, http.//atotos.gksdesign.com/ebooks/locke?https://www.artvilla.com. Inquire: guiam@wol.es.
Forthcoming in April, 2002,the third E Book from 4*9*1, URL: 491.20m.com, The DEATH OF DAPHNE containing 50 poems never before published. Inquire: Stompdcr@aol.com.
He is also a painter. Recently had exhibitions at Thomas Center Galleries (Gainesville, FL) and Tyson Trading Company (Micanopy, FL) and a one-man show at Pyramid Galleries (Tampa, FL)
Also, a photographer, has had 164 of his photos selected for appearance in e zines. He photographs trash in alleys. Moves in close to find beauty in what people have thrown away.
He now lives alone in a two-story decaying house in the sunny Tampa slums. He lives isolated and estranged as an alien, not understanding the customs, the costumes, the language (some form of postmodern English) of his neighbors. The egregious ugliness
Of his neighborhood has recently been mitigated by the esthetic efforts of the police force who put bright orange and yellow posters on the posts to advertise the location is a shopping mall for drugs. His alley is the dumping ground for stolen cars. One advantage
Of living in this neighborhood, if your car is stolen, you can step out in the back and pick it up. Also, the burglars are afraid to come in on account of the muggers.
His recreational activities are drinking wine, listening to old operas, and reading postmodern philosophy.]
Announcing: THREE NEW BOOKS OF POEMS By
Duane Locke
[Duane Locke has renounced print publication to publish electronically. Duane Locke
has over 4,000 poems published, over 2,000 in print publications, American Poetry Review, etc. and since September 1999, over 2,000 in e zines.]
Published in February, 2OO2, E book:
THE SQUID'S BLACK INK,
Published by Ze books (the publisher of poetry
For only 69 cents per book) Contact: http.//www.blquanbeck.com.zebooks. Inquire:
NOVLNymph@aol,com or Ward708@aol.com .
Published in February, 2002, E Book:
FROM A TINY ROOM,
Published in Spain by OTO' S E-BOOKS, http.//atotos.gksdesign.com/ebooks/locke or http://atotos.gksdesign.com/ebooks/buy1.htm or http://www.atotos-ebooks.com Inquire: guiam@wol.es.
Price: 5.60 Euros.
3, Forthcoming in April, 2002, E book:
THE DEATH OF DAPHNE,
Contains 50 poems never published before. To be published by 4*9*1, URL: 491.20m.com. Inquire: Stompdcr@aol.com, Price $5.
Order the above through the internet.
[Duane Locke's 14th print book is still in print, WATCHING WISTERIA. Order from Vida Publishing via iod@ironoverload.org. Or order from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and many others. Paperback, $9.95; Hardcover, $19.95]
†œThe function of the poet is to transform the language of lies spoken by the people into a language of truth, which is always mystic, mysterious, inexplicable, and exciting†----Duane Locke
POETRY PUBLICATION ANNOUNCEMENT:
DONALD RYBURN, RENOWNED EDITOR OF THE
PRESTIGIOUS 4*9*1 Neo-Naïve Imagation (491.20m.com)
and one of our currently most published
poets
Will expand his E book {(E)lite Books}
Publication series.
In September, 2002, he will inaugurate
The Duane Locke E book (E)lite book of the month club.
Starting in September 2002, he will publish Duane Locke's poetry book,
MEMOIRS OF DAMNISO LOPEZ, and in October 2002,
Duane Locke's LUNCHEON DUETS OR SOLIPSISTIC SOLIOQUIES OF GEORGE SAMSON.
These books will be followed by Duane Locke's CLOSED WINDOWS,
Duane Locke's ERASED RAINBOWS, Duane Locke's DINNING ALONE, Duane Locke's DARKNESS' FOOTSTEPS BEHIND THE STARS,
These books will be followed by six more books of poetry by Duane Locke to complete 12 books of poems for the first year of the DUANE LOCKE E BOOK (E)LITE BOOK OF THE MONTH CLUB.
All books will be full-sized poetry books, over 60 pages, except the Samson book.
A book of Duane Locke's poems will be published as E book, (E)lite Books, each month.
