robert dickerson

the snow falls on my fathers' bed
on the foot
on the head
the snow falls on my fathers' bed
...

Why, lowing dove, do you crouch alone
feeding your chant to the ear of night
blending your complaint with diesal drone
freezing your tail in the imminent light
...

My lucky charm. I've lost you
for good, in the pleats of this sandy beach,
for where yesterday you slid from my shoe
the greedy waves now reach.
...

Rheumy, achy day
planes of dull green
eclipsing dull reds
there and here scrapes of blue, a
...

Cute, little fella
hoodie-clad red
and that collar
so rhinestoneful;
...

I gave my new love flowers-
sleek adolescence
of tulips from California
purple-virginal
...

Discoid, huge, shining like the sun
redder, though, and far more irritated
shocking to see, pulsing, infiltrated,
starred with veins and veins,
...

Halfway 'round the world and more
huffing and puffing, I have come
and stretched myself along this pier
to slumber in the morning sun.
...

Richly stained with wine and gin
We are Auden's slippers
Ashes crumble on our toes
And sometimes something viscid
...

...

Elder

Child, put down that stick-
leave that pinata alone
...

A strange and mystical communion commences.
No, I am not paranoid.
No, it is just my imagination.
My cheeks flush with shame, my chest
...

Afterwards he drives me uptown
over my protests. Even so late
the traffic on Madison jogs thickly on-
the president is in town. He
...

My magic coach was broken-
stilled and steeped in mud
wheel on axle lounged;
Crazily the car leaned
...

'On beyond view and poplar-lined
I want my life's path to gently wind
it's ending distant still;
the table is spread, the candles lit,
...

Extremely unpleasant bus
awful bus, lurchy, late
crowded, unsettled, stop
and go, no
...

In my mind I'm torn
between extremes:
cruel love and comely modesty,
Shall I not have what I crave
...

Father said 'No'.
'No, no, no, no, no'!
And gave his fiery head a shake.
But the boy, who was coming of age,
...

...

Today is St Patrick's Day-but here in the Barrio
there's little green to see
Green is the color of money
there's precious little of that here,
...