5 Micropoems

by Tim Kahl

The Shyster

Hey, you’re fed up, and I’ve got a Fed Ex,
a Fed Ex! . . . to save my soul (he means).
O glorious oil futures await to bestow their
bounty upon me, and all I have to do
is listen to the spiel. I answer with erasure.
There is no longer and no responder
determining the deal.

All that opportunity down the flusher,
my well-wisher is off to find another and
bother him to better his lot, to scare up
that address. Then the offer will turn to rot,
a lesson in bait and switch where every dumb
fuck learns life’s lessons come — express.

Pigeons

A pigeon seduces me out on a ledge for sex.
I grab both its filthy legs. After orgasm,
I fall, the crowd below cheering me.
This is the new wave of porn.
I might have been a doctor, saving kids
from rabies. Instead, my life’s a lurid spectacle.
But nothing survives alone. I’m out on the ledge
with pigeons again tomorrow—
hoping for the thrill of flight.

Belly Dancing Channel

bariatric surgery for

Wal-Mart cashier leads to
work at dirt track gift shop

dogs on battlefield
operate surgical robot
with wagging tail
task force of terriers
mends bonds between
soldiers and organ donors

senator’s secret son
forgets jester’s hat
still manages to
get through rite of passage

giant goldfish in lake
decides to stop bullying victims
anti-social minnows reflect on
their history as tasty morsel

belly dancing channel
taken off air
in favor of gynecologist’s
videotaped sessions

mammograms of hackers
upset shareholders
for security guard startup
reluctant to interact
with Twitterverse

Facial Rejuvenation

facial rejuvenation
invalidates the ID cards
of forgotten immigrants

the college adjacent
to the landfill
recruits gravity
to draw down opportunity

longest freefall
a spectacle in a wet year

bird enthusiasts fund
red flags at the safe house
for regulators

the old Nixon seen
as oral appliance
heard mumbling to
reform specialists

mallards reverse
their diabetes on wetlands
clouds of recyclers
managed at the borders.

Interstellar Neutrinos

clown in pajamas
alters spectrum of visible light
with leftover cans of paint

thinly sliced section of geode
mistaken for pattern on bed quilt
made from intimate apparel

valley sinking into aquifers
vineyards blame
inland pistachios
Pentagon investigates

Dreamlifter cargo jet
drops poisoned letters
over holding facility
for impulsive stamp buyers

whole map of universe
scrapped as odd insult
to understanding origins
big ideas expected
to have expiration dates

huge chunk of ice
contains interstellar neutrinos
experimenters plan for
market roll-out
as lawn art.

Tim Kahl [http://www.timkahl.com] is the author of Possessing Yourself (CW Books 2009), The Century of Travel (CW Books, 2012) and The String of Islands (Dink, 2015). His work has been published in Prairie Schooner, Indiana Review, Ninth Letter, Notre Dame Review, The Journal, Parthenon West Review, and many other journals in the U.S. He appears as Victor Schnickelfritz at the poetry and poetics blog The Great American Pinup (http://greatamericanpinup.wordpress.com/) and the poetry video blog Linebreak Studios [http://linebreakstudios.blogspot.com/]. He is also editor of Bald Trickster Press and Clade Song [http://www.cladesong.com]. He is the vice president and events coordinator of The Sacramento Poetry Center.