Warm-up Exercises

by John Grey When lovers argue  the air gets it in the neck  dreams are full of such crackling currency  but when I awake I can't spend any of it  lost love is like eating alone  in a restaurant  sipping the last of the wine  while fish bones stare up at you  a statue is…

Upon Your Arrival & Beyond

by John Grey The people of America  go crazy -  from fishing folk of the Maine coast  to the California  surfing crowd -  a baby emerges from a deaf-mute's womb  and it's still not promiscuous  or willing to kill for a living.  It is watched over by old names  and new slatterns.  Character is born …

Where I Live Now

by John Grey I'm trying to figure  what it is about this house -  egg yolk sinks  into a ketchup frieze -  squashed ants line the sink,  empty bottles vie with the half-full -  I live between a thankless television  and the doorbell -  I sleep on an old couch  with half the flesh torn…

In My New England Home

By John Grey Damn. I’d have to really hate myself to believe she’s never coming back to me. Look in the mirror and throw up. Smash in my skull with a hammer. But I’m merely waiting here, as stoic as Zeno of Citium.   So she left without a word. And I find nothing to console myself…

Interesting

By John Grey I use that horrible   coward’s word “interesting”  to describe your painting.  Bad move.  Now I have to find a way  to fire myself as art critic,  be hired on as lover.    To be honest,   the canvas looks like   an unholy mess   of blotches and streaks,  scrawl and scribble.  But that’s an…