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'

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'

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'

All poems from 'The Year of Purple Lawn Furniture' (c2001 by J. Kevin Wolfe), afree ebook of poems in various reader formats.

Kevin J. Wolfe always has had that problem of looking out the window. He was kicked out of Algebra II in the 10th grade for it. A few decades later, his cube has a view of a pine that gets irritated at the lightest of breezes. There are passionate sunsets in the winter and a constant flux of cars overtop of 90% of the asphalt in the valley. They pay him to look out this window now. Never underestimate how far your weaknesses will take you. Sometimes he looks out other windows. He calls that poetry. J. Kevin Wolfe's poems have appeared in over 60 ezines and in a dozen print publications. 'The Year of Purple Lawn Furniture' is a collection of new poems. J. Kevin Wolfe's poems have appeared in over 60 ezines and in a dozen print publications. His ebook, 'The Year of Purple Lawn Furniture', is the first lanchable Palm OS ebook. 'The Year of Purple Lawn Furniture' An ebook of poetry by J. Kevin Wolfe.

Web Site

Email: Kevin J. Wolfe

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