Poetry: Ken Pobo

LAVENDER SUBMARINE

The Beatles wanted to live
on a yellow submarine--
that's fine, as yellow is the
color of my zagreb coreopsis

and some especially thrilling
roses. I'd rather live on
a lavender sub, drive it right
into the red, white and blue

waters of America
where love is on death row,
no reprieve granted,
make love 20,000 leagues

under the sea where
whales sing and swim,
the moon leaping down
to get a better listen.

 

 

 

SPELUNKER

Entering your ass
is like going into
a beautiful
scary darkness--

for a moment, I think
it's me who's
exploring you, but
that's true and not

true--you're exploring
me too, holding me
steady, your cave

flower open in the raw
landscape of love.

 

 

 

BAKER

God is baking
a seven-layer cake.
We're the icing.
Billions of people

cling to the spongy
innards. We're sweet
but we're getting stale.
The cake,

beautiful, inviting,
and no matter how we cry,
no one wants our sweetness,
not even God.

 

THE SISTINE CHAPEL

Michaelangelo, on his back,
day after day, painting.
Around him, hunky Italian

guys--how strange to feel
beauty slipping out from your
fingers to the ceiling
while hearing beauty

calling you to come
down from the ceiling and
draw breath.

 

 

ONE OF THESE DAYS

One of these days,
it's not going to be acceptable
for people to kill us. Right now,

it's more than acceptable.
It gets you elected
or ordained. One of

these days, laws that
poke the eye out of love
will be done away with.

KENNETH POBO lives in Folsom, Pennsylvania. His work appears in: COLORADO REVIEW, MUDFISH, HAWAII REVIEW, SOUTHERN OCEAN REVIEW, WASCANA REVIEW, and elsewhere. In 1998 Palanquin Press brought out a chapbook of his poems called CICADAS IN THE APPLE TREE. Among the poets and musicians who have influenced his work are: May Swenson, Tomas Transtromer, Tommy James and the Shondells, Marc Bolan, and Buffy Ste. Marie. Also important to him are gardening, 60s pop music, surviving American homophobia, and cats.