Two Poems

JoAnna Novak

 

 

PLENTY BY THE GLASS
for E.

 

How red the calves of the brocade man
driving a stake in the Plaza de Toros,
his glamorous foot, his leather toe box

becoming part of the ornament
as you must in a gilt country, French
horns, curling poppies, gate wasted

with wisteria, Mazzantini, Mazzantini.
Let’s charlar, guapa, chisme before
our skies pen this game of pelota.

The night is laid back and straight
pinxtos, straps slid down and still
spangled, sensitive, exquisite sex

will move us to a street called Temptations.
Like red leather at tapas, Commodores
coronetted and Supremes en tambourine,

ham hung from rafters, a candlelit lover
green in fatigues holds your mouth so–
I will turn a page for you, right

the city. Proof. Yes riverside architecture
silver in the night, better than shadows
from stunned clouds. I open a guava,

you cross Estella’s medieval bridge.
I towel my hair, you adopt a beret.
Bayonne steeples, cemetery peepholes, angels

peeking like girls. The landscape slopes.
Estella la Bella butters her palm and frescoes
this Wednesday. Lanterns creep, a fleet

dignifying the hills with gray roofs. At dawn
the shearing gives you calm and socks.
I want to give you hope more than facts

but there are truths in the ancient Forest
of Irati. The quiet vine, the slender horse,
its haunches and humble hocks. We end

each slideshow with cocaine and elbows,
like good women with no history, chanting
Romanesque instead of chewing pasta.

San Sebastián, Zarautz, Hondarriba, you know
I just need to Biarritz. Another rainy emerald
road for Pilgrims. Todo el mundo toasts.

And here we acknowledge la verdad fits
inside an elbow, the small bite outweighs
the big, tapas taste better than snacks, pages

flip, fonts tilt, picnics mas divertido con feelings.
We will need lace. Chokers. Churches for party
girls. There you have it: a guide to the guide.

 

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SQUANDEROUS

 

When throwing bricks when stealing

paint when water in a spring street cup

When I take a morning and shut

the blinds and do my thing at the table

When 1536 when Anne Boleyn her Tower

of London when squander meant lives

When snapper

when albacore arguing the siren-streaked night

When burned at the stake when heresy

adulterous at least five-starred in lovers

When Münster Rebellion when Anabaptists

cages for men St. Lambert’s church

Cages like lobster traps cages like lockets

claquettes in history

When we could’ve walked pendejo

por favor cual te quieres oyé melacotón.

When baked mac and cheese when faceoff

phenomenon weight of a Monday

When it’s simple vans and tents birdsong

dodging starlight two taxicabs on Broadway

analysis paralysis

colonics in Santa Monica when your therapist

needs his job When budgeted X-Actoed

a slit in the coffee when stabbed ok big easy

When explorer when friar when second

a complete circumnavigation of the world

When Capitana when Urdaneta when tenders

take ship from sea to shore

When a word is born when a word dies

when a word bawls in the night

When piano on Sunday when baseball indoors

when scales with fingers or batteries

When the head stops twitching it’s time

to eat when miso soup or tempura

eyes fast-starved

when hallowed Friend to Native not

nihilist but nihilistic when

adjective trumps noun when maybe don’t

For good behavior hates models and Buenos

Aires was founded on Groundhog’s Day

When a ruffled skirt and bare shoulders

when shamrocks are incidental as Leap Years

the priest traced woe in palms

and the woman read nothing in the tea leaves

For even a puppet I wore a crown and stole

back a statue of my father When Manco Inca

Yupaqui when the Pilgrimage of Grace

when various aborted abbeys and arias on Sunday

and Sunday grew Monday when a bathroom

cornered the sink

When wasting is off-limits and my hobby

doesn’t justify the work when pinot noir

an eyelash on a lip when money sequins

the night it’s okay mama When it’s okay mamma

whatever it is it’s okay it’s okay stop crying

all night all night when stomping the ground

jasmine when 10 ounces

nails embrowned from basil when bacon

crisps the bar when the crown divides

When yawped a theologian engraver

I am your Classical Polish shogun

blended into nothing and frozen oil

when claro por supuesto como no

When blue

prius water bottle damp backseat

a happy hour uncoupled the summer

not yet water repairing to wine

midlife midnight when I lick your lips

take what you want Died the second

queen Spanish poet diplomat certain

public sacred vows

When haranguing the hand roll

crab crisp age dashi no uni unagi

smiled-sweet When swallowing a decade’s

pursuit when on the breathalyzer

straw When free fountain drinks

courtier versus courtesan When sourced

water comes carbonated

a spring a stream a rush when dirt

hits the floor mapped to a movie in France

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