The Poetry of Kevin J. Wolfe
Rental Car
Got the keys? I asked Chuck
I locked my door in France
Got the keys? I repeated
I pressed the knob in Andorra
Got the keys? I chanted
I checked the handle in Spain
It's Sunday
The Pyrenees live 60 kilometers
from anyplace
I forget to ask
The keys sway in the ignition
from the noose of a chain
half a meter
behind tempered glass
My Swiss Army knife learns
how sturdy Peugeots are made
Two Frenchmen
leave their picnic, wine and women
They cram two screwdrivers
above the window
Pulling down
my fingers are in
Pulling down
my hand is in
Pulling down
my elbow is in
Pulling down
the window leaps the track
thunks into the door
'Voila' they smile
It's summer
Snow flavors the wind
We have no window
'I got the keys'
Chuck says
from 'The Year of Purple Lawn Furniture'
c2001 by J. Kevin Wolfe
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Eve in Fall
Maples blush
apples blush
your cheeks blush
Bite the fruit Eve
Then share it
The drip is cold on my chin
The serpent lives
in the track of juice
and in the hiss of the fireplace
that will get too warm
for these sweaters
from 'The Year of Purple Lawn Furniture'
c2001 by J. Kevin Wolfe
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The Teaman Appears
On any Himalaya
Mr. Chetri claps twice
and a teaman appears
In his paws a rack of glasses
(wiped not washed)
and a Chinese Thermos
green with red flowers
For a rupee he pours cha
Darjeeling steams
with crude sugar
half milk
spiced with smoke
from the mystic wood
it's steeped over
The test of tenure
is to scald fingers
and not
set the glass down
You learn to honor the taste
of cremated trees
In these mountains
all wood is rare wood
from 'The Year of Purple Lawn Furniture'
c2001 by J. Kevin Wolfe
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All poems from 'The Year of Purple Lawn Furniture' (c2001 by J. Kevin Wolfe), afree ebook of poems in various reader formats.
http://home.att.net/~jkevinwolfe/i dex.html