larry o. dean
Emilee Is
That You?
A child’s face
exaggerated: freckles
an explosion of red
across pale cheeks
parked askew
in a paperback book.
Translucent blue eyes
skidding from left to
right like bald
tires hydroplaning
on rain-slick streets.
Haystack-blond hair,
newly styled, cascades
in clipper-snipped
layers; pushing fingers
through random strands
she curls a few
underneath her nose,
sniffing and smiling
like a cat deciding
to eat what its caught.
Get
Your Coupons for All of Your Pet Needs
Half-off
two hundred pounds
of gazelle meat
with the purchase of
a gold-plated feeding bowl
for your favorite lion’s den.
* * *
Buy one armadillo,
get the second free!
(Offer available only
Sunday through Thursday.)
* * *
Sweaters for parakeets,
budgie vests,
crew neck t-shirts
in a variety of sizes and colors
for toucans, owls
and emus.
* * *
Spiders of all species
enjoy complimentary cocktails
with two full-price entrees.
* * *
Freshwater fish bikinis
only at our downtown store.
Miller
Lite & Donuts
Two ladies languidly
walking down the street
the supermarket behind
bewildered in twilight
Miller Lite and donuts
pinned under each arm
that’s one unmissable
party in the planning
Our Jeff
Goldblum
Our Jeff Goldblum
isn’t as handsome
as the real thing
and might only be mistaken
under dim light. Nor
is he as tall but
that doesn’t mean he’s
short either. Our Jeff
Goldblum isn’t very likely
an actor, but then again,
how can you really know?
He might be running
his lines right now, mentally,
practicing not just what
to say, but how to say it –
with a snarling Cockney patois
or rubbery Southern twang,
something contrary
to Goldblumian expectations, to out-
shine or con-
found co-stars. Instead of
"actor," our Jeff Goldblum
might be a "lawyer"
or "doctor" (wearing the suit
for either), or perhaps
he’s simply a snappy
dresser, somebody who likes
looking presentable for all
occasions: surely the other
Goldblums would approve.
His eyes dart around –
he’s looking for someone,
a landmark, street sign;
the target he’s tailing, if,
for example, he’s a private
investigator, or ubiquitous
actor getting into character
by doing investigative
things. He disembarks
the bus authoritatively,
loping with the long legs
of a decisive Jeff Goldblum
toward his designated destiny
on the outskirts
of a non-Hollywood somewhere
else: wherever that may be,
no paparazzi wait, desperate
for a picture of our Jeff Goldblum
doing something stupid.
Scooter’s
The front counter is a crush
of custard-craving customers,
metabolisms inflamed by Chicago’s
brute summer heat.
'50s pop
standards pipe into the air, musical
wallpaper accompanying fake
Cold War-era, awning
to interior decoration; preteen
help bustles, bumping elbows
in a frantic tango keeping
pace with a surfeit of orders.
Walking in is not
so much a trip backward in time
as a willful denial of it:
neighbors – babies buggied
in chic hermetic carriages,
toddlers clutching gym-carved
calves – sigh impatiently,
ostentatiously, scandalized
by slow service, appeased
finally by the illusion
of a bygone era’s calmness:
vanilla days melting
into chocolate nights
as spoonfuls of sweetness,
nut-topped and cherried
drizzle decadently down
taut and tanned throats.
© Larry O. Dean
Larry O. Dean
is originally from Flint, Michigan. In addition to writing, he is a singer and songwriter, working both solo as well as with
several 'hard pop' bands. He has released numerous critically-acclaimed
CDs, including Throw the Lions to the Christians (1997) and Sir Slob (2001);
Public Displays of Affection (1998) and Fables in Slang (2001), with Post Office;
Gentrification is Theft (2002), with The Me Decade; and Fun with a Purpose (forthcoming, 2008), with The Injured Parties. He
hosts a monthly songwriter showcase, Folk You!, now in its sixth year.
He is author of the following books: Rate of Exchange & Other Poems (1988);
Barking Up the Wrong Tree (1989); QWERTYUIOP (1989); Eyes, Ears, Nose & Throat (1990);
Workers' Comp. (1995); Identity Theft for Dummies (2003); and
I Am Spam (2004), a series of poems “inspired” by spam email.
Selected magazine publications include
The Berkeley Poetry Review, Gryphon, Passages North,
Third Lung Review, The Altered Mind, Lilliput
Review, Amaranth Review, Kumquat Meringue, California
Quarterly, and many others. His work has also been widely anthologized.
Larry was a 2004 recipient of the Hands on Stanzas Gwendolyn Brooks
Award, presented by the Poetry Center of Chicago.
After living in San Francisco for over a decade, he now makes his home in Chicago.
Contact him at www.larryodean.com
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