John Forbes Poems

A certain cast to their features marked
the English going into battle, & then, that

glint in the Frenchman’s eye meant ‘Folks
...

Death, you’re more successful than America,
even if we don’t choose to join you, we do.
I’ve just become aware of this conscription
where no one’s marble doesn’t come up;
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it’s fun to take speed
& stay up all night
not writing those reams of poetry
just thinking about is bad for you
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The dictionary definition of change
means your face looks different in the water
& even tho’ you’d feel at home down there
each moment spent at one remove, anywhere
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like a dozing shark
or a very quiet limb
waiting for the lecture
to make it a star the
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I often dream about the ocean
and would like to write
a long ode to water, because I live
on a drought stricken flood plain
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American poets!
you have saved
America from
its reputation
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dont bother telling me about the programs
describe what your set is like the casing the
curved screen its strip of white stillness like
beach sand at pools where the animals come
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Raving against the space
where the poem sounds
like a revolving door that
makes the noise a car makes
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Be still, my beating heart, & you, body
Don’t go banging into that tree—
The one the girl turned into, back
When the gods were like they are
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