Anne Birkam

My country lies in the cradle rocking

My country lies in the cradle rocking, knocking at my door you come- with a bat that is ready to swing you bring this inning home. Integrity lies on the willow waiting, baiting at my line to bring a fisher’s hook my eye to catch- watch it bleed and sing. The lonely rendered jack aContinue reading “My country lies in the cradle rocking”

i once wrote yellow

i once wrote yellow a spring of daffodils and roses swam towards me a garden of childhood delights only blue spills out of this pen now winter is closing in on these once red lips i live off charcoal and whale fat i keep my veins sour, unapparent i don’t want them to burst 11/21/1980

the jokers in charge

can go to hell this is one shrew who fights back 3/9/1982

The rules of life

‘When a rich man chases after dames he’s a man about town, he’s a man about town. When a poor man chases after dames he’s a bounder he’s a rounder he’s a rotter and a lot of dirty names.’ – ‘When the idle poor become the idle rich’ [song from Finnegan’s Rainbow] They depend uponContinue reading “The rules of life”

I know a lady

I know a lady who speaks with her eyes and moves with her arms, a mother bearing her child. She’s the devil some say who will haunt your dreams and steal away with your youth, leaving naught but a skeleton behind. She’s a muse in winter, the red of her cheeks soaked against pale skin,Continue reading “I know a lady”

dreams

i dreamt last night in a cloud of mildew bed sheets wrapped warm as baked apples with cinnamon seeping and sticking like glue to my skin i dreamt last night in a seine of inspirations stretching towards heavenly ascent i dreamt words not answers just sheets of papers streaming from my ears i woke thisContinue reading “dreams”

Mosque burning

I seek the language For this lunacy – the tips of my fingers push these words out. Still nothing. 3/24/2017

Words

How does one live in a world of loathsome words? “Punch him in the face.” We can’t disagree with grace? “She has blood coming out of her whatever.” Grandmothers eyes roll what? Never! “I moved on her like a bitch.” Behavior of the rich? “Grab them by the pussy.” So kitty cats aren’t fussy? “IslamContinue reading “Words”

Beloved

My life these days is lived in the fog of a visit to mom. We sit at lunch, lost in 90 years of forgetting. I caress her with sweet nothings to bring a smile that I can lose myself in. I want to lose myself in this forgetting. To remember is to think of deathContinue reading “Beloved”

Etude for a hero

The radio blares in the car I drive, blowing by green leaves and dead birds. I drive on in a surge of speed as you shine above me, Polaris, you lead and I follow. I notice you shyly, as you appear-a diamond in the sky. I am afraid to follow at first for fear youContinue reading “Etude for a hero”