Welcome to My Fort

Bill Howell
From:   Porcupine Archery. Insomniac Press, 2009.

You can eat anything you want
except the dog. If I've forgotten anything,
just ask. If I remember anything else, I'll tell you.
No need for homework here,
and I've got all my old role models out back

in the freezer. Lift the lid
if you don't believe me. That strongbox is left over
from a train robbery I saw once
in a Long John Silver movie. If you put your ear to it,
you'll get this albatross weirdness.

Meanwhile, keep a sharp eye out and keep sharp objects out
of my face. But no matter how many
imaginary cannibals you see, this isn't
a computer game. Because no matter how tired
of becoming human we sometimes feel we've become,

we can still hear those astonished waves down there.
I'll try a few summersaults in the air
when the time comes,
to get you started. I can't say much about the impact,
but the effect of the flight on your body

is amazing. A soft wind memorizes your name
at the same moment you see all names
are nonsense. And should you wash back up
on that beach again, there's no telling
what kind of creature you'll be.

Poem 1 | Poem 2 | Poem 3 | Poem 4 | Poem 5 | Poem 6

Bill Howell's works copyright © to the author.