Sam Mauzy

A scene of desolation like a film apocalyptic
With empty streets, buildings bleak and forlorn;
A breezy scrap of plastic scuttles like a crab;
Unruffled, stoic gulls stand and stare.
...

Come and let us take a slow drive across town,
Dodge confused tourists, be polite at four-way stops,
Zoom over the boated Ashley out to the beach road;
Don't fall off;
...

Banged-up pickup truck
Parked near the pumps
At truckstop cafe, travelers
Peering in at a baby deer;
...

In morning sky unfurled, a seabird soared,
And puffed above, a monster sphinx held sway;
I meant to tell the girl who worked at breakfast
Her visage did enrich the promised day.
...

The assiduous vines of this foe
On the edge of the yard where it grows
Will soon cover most anything near
And believe it or not volunteer
...

It makes you utter an expletive,
Or it makes you get a cliche of goosebumps, or
It makes your mind go giddyup,
Or it makes you laugh out loud, or
...

Screaming like demons
The Rebs came on a run
Hell froze over
An order was undone
...

I have a strange theory, strange
As multiple dimensions in string theory:
Spirits can see what we see
When we think of them;
...

After they finally met
All that remained of her
Was a raven epithet
For the days that never were.
...

Antietam Creek when I visit
Your Cornfield and Sunken Lane
Your September flowers
Are ready for a picking.
...

O how you sing to us,
Manassas, Chicamauga,

Shennandoah, Okrakoke,
Savannah, Tuscaloosa,
...

Off Broad and Chalmers
human beings cooped
in dank and dark cells
on the block
...

Sanderling
funny little bird
with stick legs
and skinny beak
...

Mother of kings
Perspicacious feeder
Sea breeze glider
Coastal dive bomber
...

When he asked the easy girl
She replied she was taken
At thirteen by an older boy
Then she laughed and said
...

Altitude addiction
Appetite for wind and line
Astonishment for birds
Anxiety for the flyer.
...

Veramente quant'io del regno santo
ne la mia mente potei far tesoro,
sarà ora materia del mio canto.
...

Bright bugle adagio
From funeral home on the corner
Full dress detail stiff as boards
Line up tight
...

Dead parents dead friends
Dead pets dead teachers
All gone to our heads
Nestled in neurons
...