Long Martinis Poems

This happened last Fall, during Thanksgiving break.

Lisa and I were at the MET (The Metropolitan Museum of Art), with her family, at an exhibit of Art Deco sculpture. Lisa and I came out of a...

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This was last Saturday night. We were at a rooftop party in downtown New Haven thrown by ‘DocHouse.’ Doc-House is kind of a frat-house, owned by Dr. Melon, where he and seven doctoral students live....

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“22½ euros for a Martini,” Peter remarked, when he first scanned the menu.
“It’s not like we aren’t going to get them,” I said, “we’re not going to cheap our way to abstinence." The waiter came...

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Lisa and I finally tested covid-free! When we saw our results, we began an impromptu dance that felt like levitation.

Although my covid case seemed much milder, Lisa’s been nothing but supportive. Why just yesterday morning,...

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Lisa and I had a party to hit-up. I can’t stay inside all the time, not on a Friday night anyway and a rooftop is the perfect place to mull over big questions and get...

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I have known:
   of wise detectives catching crooks
   of "Thought Police" revising books
   a shipwrecked family named Robinson
   of lion, witch, and wardrobe magic
   Heathcliff's...

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A Garden In The Sky—by Michael Anthony Butler

  
I positioned myself by the pool
at some hip-posh happening hotel
on the sultry Sunset Strip in L.A.
The adolescent afternoon is hot and
fussy.  My lover draws closer
With...

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When the wolf applied nicely
If he could come in,
The pigs replied thricely he shouldn't.
Then they scratched at the hairs
On their chinny chin chins,
And tightly bolted the door so he wouldn't.

But wolves, when out shopping,
Are not...

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ODDS OF LOVE

Sometimes the heart can act strangely
And random emotions can lead to mistakes
And a moment of vulnerability
Can result in unnecessary heartbreaks

But sometimes the heart wants what it wants
Even though you know it's not guaranteed
A...

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Franny & Angie

          went out walking
                   after midnight

In...

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Peter (my bf) and I are at Heraclee beach for the weekend.
It’s a little sliver of heaven, about 11 miles south of Saint Tropez.
It’s too early in the season to swim - being breezy and...

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"Ennui Sets In”

Whenever pen is placed
Between purloined phalanges,
When my mind unfolds and tears along the seams,
I know it’s time to move my thoughts,
Through the underground;
That dark crusty void
Of dreary dreams diminished,
Where loose hell raisers floss...

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A group of 15-year-old girlfriends 
decided where to meet for dinner.
the Dairy Queen next to the Ocean View Restaurant,
because they had only $6.00 among them, 
and a cute boy lived across the street named Jimmy...

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Where the floor meets the wall,
She stands in her usual spot,
Craving a cigarette,
Observing, processing, psycho-analyzing,
Another Saturday night with her friends.

Their forced civilized exchange of small talk, 
Boasting, intellectual competitions and back handed compliments
Vainly covers the...

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"Tease for Two"



“Ein bisschen Zucker 
mit Ihrer Sahne, Sir?“

German accent 
smoky toned 
she purred

Periwinkles suavely winked, 
then played with his -

cufflinks

“Not now Schvee Tart” 
he said holding his attache tight 
looking across the room
grinning Lupine...

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how clever a peck on the cheek, a kiss on the head
a hug with a boa constriction for the parents i love.

how cruel this fate of social isolation, to stunt the breath
of this illusion, that...

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The other day I was taken aback by something a young girl in the bookstore said…
It made me lose my perspective as my expectations ran away with my head.

This can happen when I least expect...

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People say my poetry is mostly doom and gloom
But I’m a funny person and I’ll prove it to you soon
My wit and sharp ripostes are a constant delight
Let’s see if I can tell this story...

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That evening
we took a flat-bottomed boat
and swam it up the Thames.
Douglas the middle-aged queer
served martinis out of a crystal pitcher.
Lurching for lips, he kissed me.
I was surprised how sweet it felt.
Jenny in a canvas chair,...

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Another Easter spent
feasting on Jelly Bean Martinis,
sculpting butter lambs
with Nana’s mastiff Escort
snoring by tabletop fire.

Aunt Bea smoked lemongrass,
shading wooden eggs 
with Dappled Willow shrubs.

A whimsical Slovakian cousin
suggested we whip each other with willow rods,
sprinkle ice-choked...

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A Celebration of Apathy.

Cellophane smiles devoid of feeling,
Saccharine laughs hollow and tinny,
Frigid words wrapped in rich syrup,
Cashmere shawls thrown over sleek shoulders,
Beluga spread on lightly buttered toast,
Champagne kisses stripped of passion,
Happy days and feast-filled evenings,
Devouring...

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the sharpest crack 
from the boxers jaw,
a symbol of prosperity
to those who place reality in syntax

		(mediocre vulgarity)

a stick of shaken veins gripped 
firmly in my owners hand
waiting,
panting,
prisms of red, purple, amethyst
expressions grown in the autumn...

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Scraping these stalemate shadows from such, buskins nails

Tracing real time read throughs signifying tragedies

Shredded in the leafed contours bin....

High rise windows overlooking the city; hedged portrayed views!?

Collosity framed upon the walls possessive panels this, epidemic...

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Destiny With Gods

Like a knight on a stallion he rode into my world
The moment he set his eyes on me 
I was swooning over his endearing voice
I was introduced to him by my friend at...

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Upper class clowns and socialists
always whining from their crystal palaces. 
Fine dining ...greasy lipped pimps
Lecturing the working man, on global warming,
who just topped off their private ride
with ozone poking jet fuel piss-

Upper class clowns and...

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