Tallahassee Lassie Has a Panatella in Santiago de Cuba

by Gregory Severance

slut boys in the boon-
docks lost
the haze in a-
byss vanished
in the poe-
try now
as we have
seen it is on-
ly for him I
may as well
give but the
poet him-
self was al-
so lost his
name Jack-
son Ma-
lone man
and me
now that I
have no fur-
ther being lang-
uage nothin-
gness probable that
the other is look-
ing at me og-
ling surf-
ers on long
boards ocean wet-
suits reef-
er break off-
shore kinky corn-
er text-
ures or my ur-
inalysis refus-
als first dance
last call
she show me the way
whisky bar inhabited by
my precious slut boys and
then that half-drunk bottle of
Jack Daniels slipped from my hand
spattered all over
the sidewalks of funky town
I'll never get over it
the view from high ground
of the canefields glowing in the mid-
dle of night ablaze
in enemy terri-
tory

May 2-3, 1999

Bulldog Breath