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Best Poems Written by Michael Mosall

Below are the all-time best Michael Mosall poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Michael Mosall Poem

The Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria

Sparkling, empty blue sea
sails break the distant horizon
first one
then two
finally three ships making way 
toward unsuspecting shell-gatherers
brown-skinned and naked on
the hot Caribbean sand

Had they known 
they could have feigned friendship
Then slaughtered them all in the night
Burned the great ships and
been done with it.
At least for a while

Details | Michael Mosall Poem

Poem To a Potato #1

Such an ugly thing 
looking back at me
with your so-called eyes
conceived in dirt 
nothing but a storage cellar
for the top green which itself
is less than remarkable
with a flower so
easily dismissed.

Who gathers potato seeds?
who even needs 
potato seeds?
If they had them
who would plant them?
No one that's who.
Sexless reproduction is  the 
trademark of the potato
"just hack off an eye
throw it in the mud"
another potato grows.

Once a healthy food
now scorned 
by fat and thin alike.
High GI you know.
Nothing but starch in there.
Not fried
not baked
not boiled, scalded, or scalloped
no sir 
no thanks 
no potatoes
no way.

And 
isn't this cute?
when potatoes are in a group
they feel the need to put an "e" 
where no "e" needs to be.
I'm sorry Mr. Potatoe
but you're no tomatoe.

Details | Michael Mosall Poem

The Passing of Nick Adams

Elegant
short
choppy 
dialogue

War
women
bullfights
and wine

Early morning
backyard
shotgun
a perfect ending

Details | Michael Mosall Poem

Apnea Nights

(Only fellow hose-heads will understand this)

In the dream
friends from long ago in a strange bar
gently push me back
saying that they have colds
and wouldn't want to infect me
I am wearing a mask for breathing
it supplies air from a portable 
fan and battery pack on my belt 
no one else seems to have a mask
and they do not question mine
I think they are lying about the colds
because they really don't talk to me
instead they seem to be talking around and through me
this makes me very angry and I try to tell them so
they just continue talking to each other and
occasionally nodding to me and saying things 
that makes no sense 

   "don't talk with your mouth open"
   "don't breath with your mouth open"
   "don't let the wind blow in your eyes"

I leave by the back door and crawl through
bins of garbage surrounded by loose trash
it is difficult to walk
I come to a large fenced in area
the fence is six feet in height and holds back
a deep pile of empty beer cans
on the other side of the area
is the street and easy walking
I climb the fence 
stepping into the sea of cans
I discover that the fence surrounds a hole
the mass of cans is really much deeper
sinking deeper with each clumsy step 
I am soon completely  submerged in 
a rattling aluminum ocean
some of the cans are not completely empty 
drops of stale beer drip on my face
panic ensues and swimming   
sinks me even deeper
eventually I discover that a combination of turning on my side and
a slow gentle pushing of legs and arms works to get my head above the cans
slowly I move toward the street 
I have lost the mask, fan, and battery pack
the stale beer smell is overwhelming 
my labored breathing sounds like snoring
reaching the other side
I am frantic to get to the street
the fence is now a solid sheet of aluminum  
I cannot get a foothold 
By using the weight of my body I manage to bend the fence over 
I scramble out
a river of cans spills out with me 
it is impossible to take a step without kicking or stepping on a beer can
the morning dog walkers stare as I clatter past
my clothes are dirty and wet with beer
what am I going to tell my parents?

as I awake I am immediately grateful that I am older 
and no longer answer to my parents
but the snoring wife next to me will certainly want to know
where I have been and just what to Hell has been going on

-then the last of the dream-fog clears 
I realize that all I need do is remove my headgear
shut the machine off
and get up as if nothing happened.

Details | Michael Mosall Poem

Marjorie At School

Marjorie laughs when others laugh 
not understanding the humor that is her 
Popular Marjorie
Entertainment for future prom-queens
Meat for bullies 
A lunchroom pastime 

Pimple-faced Marjorie 
Simple-minded Marjorie 
Let's put Marjorie on 
Its so fun
Pretend that you like Marjorie then put her down
she falls for it every time

We discuss Marjorie's grades
social studies, math, English
Dismal-failure Marjorie
No room for her here
like waving at the blind or
shouting to the deaf 
What's the point?
Better off in functional skills

We do our best to 
Keep Marjorie from physical harm 
Ignore her daily-beaten soul
Feed her useless facts
Keep her from getting in the way of the real children
and
Move her along until... 
Until what?
We have not a clue 

Through it all
Marjorie smiles

Details | Michael Mosall Poem

Rain Dance

Sunday afternoon brings rain
It dances cold and angry on the walk
We are prisoners uneasy
Pacing a tiny dry cage
Territorial maneuverings 
Obligatory utterances
We dance 
Like the rain
Cold and angry

Details | Michael Mosall Poem

Something We Dare Not Name

We walk and snowflakes fall soft upon your hair.
Perfect crystals
Quickly melting 
Like moments to memories
Gone too soon

If I held you close
would we dance 
to the untitled melody that plays in my mind
Or would you pretend not to hear it?
Because I fear the answer
I do not ask the question

Instead
We talk about riding the bus
and living alone.
As the music grows bolder
I retreat down a chill path

Because the frozen ground affords
no sign of passage
You cannot follow

Still the song plays on
Ever with me
Unnamed
Unshared
and somewhat out of time

Details | Michael Mosall Poem

Somewhere Above Zero

There wasn’t much that winter
but what we had was enough
Warmed by wood cut in summer
when things were better.
Nor’easter nights make good dreams
and later
a clean white day