Poetry Super Highway

Poetry Super Highway

January 13-19, 2020: Poetry from John Burroughs and Jefferson Carter

John Burroughs and Jefferson Carter

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John Burroughs
jc@crisischronicles.com

Bio (auto)

John Burroughs of Cleveland was recently named the 2019-2021 Beat Poet Laureate for the state of Ohio. His latest book – Rattle and Numb: Selected Poems, 1992-2019 – was published this year by Venetian Spider Press. A dynamic performer who has wowed audiences from Oakland to New York City, John currently hosts the monthly Poetry+ reading series at Art on Madison and has served since 2008 as the founding editor for Crisis Chronicles Press. Find him at www.crisischronicles.com.

The following work is Copyright © 2020, and owned by John Burroughs and may not be distributed or reprinted in any form whatsoever without written permission from the author.


Faith Without Works Is Dead

Saw “In God We Trust”
all the way across the back
bumper of an Ashe
County Sheriff’s car.

Made me wonder
why they need a sheriff.

 

 

Jefferson Carter
Carter7878@gmail.com

Bio (auto)

Jefferson Carter has lived in Tucson since 1953. His poems have appeared in such journals as Carolina Quarterly, Barrow Street, Cream City Review, Rattle, and New Poets of the American West. Birkenstock Blues, his eleventh collection, has gone into a second, revised edition. He’s a passionate supporter of Sky Island Alliance, a regionally-based environmental organization. Visit Jefferson on the web here.

The following work is Copyright © 2020, and owned by Jefferson Carter and may not be distributed or reprinted in any form whatsoever without written permission from the author.


Life Partner

For convenience, I & my life partner
(the woman formerly known as my wife)
have numbered our arguments.  Number 3, 
you’re so negative.  Number 5, you left 
hair in the sink again.  Number 8, you’re 
naive.  Number 11, another beer already?  
Number 13, you don’t listen to me.
But I do.  I just don’t agree.  Now
my life partner’s on the couch, watching
Live P.D.  She’s pleased with the police,
so kind to the miscreants & trailer trash
they apprehend.  Of course, they’re
kind!  They’re on camera!  Without 
looking at me, she holds up three fingers.

My life partner wants to make a deal:
she’ll stop storing our broken pepper mill
upright in the spice rack, pepper everywhere
like coarse soot, she’ll store the mill
on its side if I stop switching off the light 
over the dining-room table whenever
she’s in another room.  Why?  Why
does she need that light on all day?
She raises both fists & opens each one
twice. Number 20, you don’t love me.

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