Tom Courtney Poems

My poetry lies folded in the wrappers
marked for value sifted sorted folded filed
rejected accepted a line of strenuous dispositions
stretching from the keyboard to the kitchen counter top
...

There once was a young boy named Ned
who wouldn't say put in his bed.

His mother had kissed him at eight,
...

Winds buffeting sea rocks
covered with a sea of white birds
like a powder, waves
lunging against the land
...

And that was Saturday when Allie came home
from college and she was so pretty
and she had her hair curled and long
and everyone couldn’t stop exclaiming
...

... and the best thing
would be to perform
One spoke as the two men sat
at the small table in the corner
...

The Weasel was wheezing one day
perhaps it seems odd to say
The sun went into a hole in my hand
and the moon came out to play
...

This is the age of the electric transaction
Come on little sister, let me show you around
This is the age of the impersonal inquiry
This is the age of the manwomanman
...

Marathon starts in the sweat of night
when you twist in the sheets
like a fecund peach
Something swells inside your chest
...

Jenny come softly
My arms wish to hold you
My cheek yearns to press against yours
My heart is your victim come gently
...

Fire cracks and spits belches out ripping the air
exploding out of short and mean tuned exhaust pipes
from these exotic sleek now trembling and rocking
high velocity accelerators
...