after the hunt
melting into a hanky
the marshmallow

_-_-_

on a patch of frozen grass a frozen leaf

_-_-_

the sound of wet tires on wet asphalt

_-_-_

reconciliation 
you turn 
a tarot card

sticking out of the
‘fighting animal testing’ bag
a yoga mat

_-_-_

yellow blue drying on my shins salt water

_-_-_

god
underneath the houses
a river

_-_-_

nightmare the heat between an ice cube and a finger

in agreement 

with the moon 

the moon

_-_-_

the cuckoo’s call you become a statue

_-_-_

oilfaced cow emojis

Faced with a bitter north wind, do you stand behind or in front?

rainbow oilfaced cows ripple in field rut water

Why pull the world’s weight though midnight eyes?

metal detector metal detector a field bound by cow emojis

When the time comes will you replace your spleen with a carburetor?

only if I crank the shaft without the flight of bluebirds

Who drags time for the murder of crows?

His head full of clichés the farmer hits repeat on the Mac DeMarco song

Another one? asks the veterinarian hiding behind time and crows.

without fear or consequences he quickly plows into them

Is it time yet to beam up the scarecrow scout?

three miles to.... next exit the alien's green thighs 

On the cover of the autumn almanac is a photo of a lost explorer,  will you doodle a willy on his head? 

with a pig’s bow tie I hoe semicircular cornfields

Next you’ll tell me there’s no gas left in the pump house diner?

Softly he wipes his mouth with the paper he wrote this poem on

Michael O’Brien, Helsinki, Finland

Ray Caligiuri, Beaverton, Oregon, USA

hair of the dog

whiskey over ice
this morning
the softness of birds 

a glimmer of sunlight
on the rusted tractor

out of poverty
between barley sheaths
an armed robbery

just for the thrill of it;
faster, pussycat! kill! 

counting death masks
you ask the wind
to blow the other way

all over town
the scent of the cannery
the crash of waves

building a mountain
out of rocking horse shit

worn thin
enough to be real...
sometimes

through potato soup
you read about the war

in refrigerator magnets
a poem;
hair of the dog...

Michael O'Brien
Clayton Beach

Daily Ablations

Why do the birds sing my morning coffee?

innocently you spread your legs over a blackbird's tongue

Sowing racism into a traffic jam - which radio station do you become?

finding no excuse make toast with the mourning

What do you make without unintended silence?

after saluting the muskrats we take lunch with red circles 

Late for something, do you eat the sky or become a Patagonian village?

a sugar high blue driveway pine cones fall and crunch

Do the pheasant screams spoil your lunch?

indigestion you become a hand gun 

Seven crumbs or the Andes, sir? 

price hiking turns a blind eye toward the sandstorm

Why all these ambivalent water meters?

seven minutes late for happy hour Handel sews his eyes shut 

When exactly will you beat me to death with a copper pipe?

the after tea earthquake opens heart fault lines

Who accounts for dinner seaweeds rise and fall?

drunk on nothing my rib cage becomes a seahorse 

If a child fakes a fart do you fake a sniff too?

under satin sheets the cannon shoots confetti

Ray Caligiuri, Beaverton, Oregon, USA

Michael O’Brien, Helsinki, Finland