Friday, August 21, 2009

2 poems by Zachari J. Popour

“t.v. dinner for 1”

under certain lighting
the blank screen has the ability to disembowel you
more thoroughly
than a Harmony Korine screenplay
these reflections have a tendency to validate truths
that we don’t want to believe
like the grooves along our foreheads
insinuating the awkwardness in fundamental frowns
and hush betrayal
conclusions are not limited to names and dates only
and the sun does not rise nor set
it’s as stationary as the empty lot
where Elizabeth Short’s one dollar dream was cut in half
and paid out in fifty cent increments
at the corner of twice the woman
and half the appeal
her buck knife smile has stigmatized the char lines
on my salisbury steak
which now resides somewhere south of edible
the tide is not all that turns
put-on speculations put-up rumors
and point blank lies are veneers put over our blind spots
they are necessary cosmetics for the survival
of ventriloquists
and the forever children throwing voices
and surrendering to herdsmen
who don’t have the decency to curtsy before a fleecing
ride the coattails of another's expectations
long enough
and you’ll find yourself either holding the sheers
or taking alms for your innards



“rhythmic horse feathers”

come dance with us!
they say

timing existential undulations to
step
1 and 2 and 3 and 4
with an air of subdivision
entitlement

hickeys on the neck of a midlife crisis

my pit-stained undershirt prompts
triage
for future reference
to more desirable outcomes

i challenge the wall to a staring contest
and lose


come dance with us!
they say

snapping antagonistic cryptograms
between their fingers

tightrope the power lines with
a pocket full of
mercy

we want you to shock us

i pantomime stasis so well
that the act itself
is worthy of copyright protection

waltzing my way past the ridicule
in ¾ time





Zachari J. Popour was born April 11th, 1985 and is a lifelong resident of Huron County, Michigan. He has been featured both online and in print in such publications as 3:AM Magazine, Kill Poet, Gloom Cupboard, and Hemingway’s Shotgun. Zach is just like you, him, her, them; both the best and worst person in the world.

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