Three Pieces
for Julia Ames

i.
Cleophas

he’s beginning to wear his mouth
like an old man

in public, playing piano

without giving a shit
about it

ii
Tia & Fred

would eat me like a wolf
were I to turn up at his door

for something I wanted
or for something grandmother
sent me for

after Joseph Spence’s music
and he has some, has all

I’m timid though to go by

afraid of his teeth ending
deep in me

hungry for meat, for me

he seems to think
I’m sweet

iii.
Nicolette

wanting to be able
to cut and to bleed

able to hear it when she writes
and when she speaks

wanting to break out
though she’s on the inside

wanting to cast a spell
though she can spell very well

wanting to be as ungrammatical
as can be, can hear and can see

dog on a chain, dog on a leash
is instead lion, tiger
unable to be tamed or chained

able to roar still
able to make thunder roll
the welkin ring

chains of rhyme
she can pop when she pleases
if she pleases

in spite of Cambridge, Q.C.
C.O.B.


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2009
Written between 8:41 p.m., Saturday,
May 9 and 12:20 a.m.
Sunday, May 10, 2009