Friday, January 31, 2020

Her

(Overachieving with women, continued...)

I am fairly certain
she could craft a 
winning argument
to any proposition 
I might propose
while talking 
in her 
sleep.


Ken Owen   January 2020
Van Niddy Press

Saturday, January 25, 2020

Excuse Me, Miss Dickinson


while at my
favorite book store
I told my friend the 
proprietor 
that he had things in the 
poetry section 
arranged in such a way 
that I had to move 
Emily Dickinson
to get to
Charles Bukowski.

the ironic imagery
was not lost on
me.

Bukowski
hiding behind
Dickinson,
the two of them
living next to each other 
in the only place
where that would be 
possible.

so I tried
imagining
them living next to each other 
in the same 
apartment complex,
each day
holed up in 
their rooms 
writing their observations
within and without,

her window shade open,
the glass clean and sparkling
as she wrote letters
to keep friends close and
visitors away,

and his dirty shade
tattered and closed
while he peered out only 
to see who rang his doorbell 
while he hid
from the landlord,

and each night
Miss Dickinson banging on 
the wall of her apartment
to tell Bukowski
to turn down his radio
as they both sat
alone
in self-imposed
seclusion.

Bukowski
living next door to
Dickinson.

only in the
poetry
section.



Ken Owen
Van Niddy Press   January 2020