1.

'solo'

lie down
eyes closed
to lie down by day
shines light on the sole
feet for the purpose bared
eyes closed
not the soles' mirror
remind me to keep out an eye
for barefoot beauty
and do some sole-searching


2.

'watchtower all along'

once you are old
is when once you were young
time tends not to go full circle
it just goes gradually and increasingly
more clumsy much like
old legs render pants unintentionally
baggy (unlike rappers' limbs and trousers)
so get up and stumble-run up
those winding stairs
I'll follow more slowly
(three steps at a time)
and should I find you still alive
and sufficiently conscious
up in the watchtower
I'll sit in front of you
to pull up my wide skirt
and show you whether or not
one woman now young
does underwear

3.

'(most)'

oral isn't short for immoral
in terms of (most) poetry
(or most shopping-lists)
but
depending on others to record
one's verses carries the (tiny) risk
of having a splendid young woman
jot them down and later claim them
as her own (proof of which available
in her very own handwriting)
(Homer may be a collective name
for a long sequence of splendid
young women fluent in Eastern Ionic
and with a smattering of Aeolic Ancient
Greek)
so should verses like these be plagiarised
in the manner described
to many a poet it must be consoling
to get plagiarised by female splendour
with parentheses edited in by
a lily-white hand (or one black)
oral isn't short for immoral
in terms of most (male) poets


4.

'rake's retreat'

at the time my right hand's
fingernails got trimmed less
than my left hand's
no discrimination intended
it made playing a guitar easier
on fingers as well as strings
she
may or may not have noticed
before stating that she wanted me
to make love to her
making love to her involved her demanding
me
to rake her back with my fingernails
which must have been painful
(although she denied enjoying pain)
actively using my fingernails other than
in playing the guitar or occasionally
scratching
rubbed me the wrong way
some itches I find are not for the scratching
and of course I don't
remember her name

5.

'wee bit'


it takes a word like kynurenine
to remind me of schooldays past
and being taught Ancient Greek
and how useful it is to discern
from what at first that metabolite
was harvested by scientists bestowing
names in the hope of making one
for themselves after first harvesting
the volumes of dog piss required


6.

'multi'


because the many can't agree
on any rule
the few rule
them
the few argue that
without exerting any undue influence
they were by the many elected
just as overly fattening food
got produced after getting massively
purchased
as mere accessories after the fact
the few make many promises
the many believe their reasons
for keeping fewer than none
you (and many with you)
if you don't understand what
the above lines are all about
see you
at the ballot box

Levi Wagenmaker


If you have any thoughts on this poem, Levi Wagenmaker would be pleased to hear them.