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The
Purgatory
Elm
is
a
lovely
little
poetry
book,
full
of
winsome
characters
on
a
sunny
journey
through
the pit of spectacular humanity. In a place where human nature is typically stupid and common,
I hope to Hell that you enjoy yourself.
Sample poems follow…
a
The Purgatory Elm
The Goldfish Morgue
Here at the Goldfish Morgue, we take true pains
to process your dead fish in a way that's dignified
whether Death is by misfortune or by homicide
or if your fish blew out his little brains
with special consideration gladly given
to the fat and dumb and mentally ill,
the sad, the rakish, the daffodil
and the goldfish of our veterans.
We're not just a Goldfish Morgue, of course,
we're a full-service partner who grieves
with rites, music and mourners for the bereaved
who share the total loss and remorse.
Economical plans start at $49.95
where we put him in a bag & throw him in the garbage
but if you upgrade to the Fanfare Package
your goldfish will be regally memorialized.
Also, for a small Attachment fee,
we'll strangle up to six people, including your wife,
so your fish will have servants in that afterlife
as a goldfish-headed Egyptian deity.
Everyone in life has loved and lost
and even for a bug-eyed little tearjerker
we assign a dedicated caseworker
to give perspective and assist with costs.
Perhaps your goldfish liked to go on rides
or was more a contemplative scholar,
perhaps he liked to fuck around and holler
or instead he kept it all inside,
we'll tailor your bereavement then to fit,
perhaps something elegant and tasteful
or something so extravagantly wasteful
The Coroner will have to clean up after it.
We know everyone dies quite like a goldfish
just as big as a puff of snow,
as grand as a little gold can go,
as important as a secret wish,
which is why the Goldfish Morgue is your friend
in the business regretfully
for no one is as small and loving as me
when all the world is coming to an end.
My Other Counsel
The Bubbly flat, my clouds all out of air,
how could I fuck my life so upside-down?
My Other Counsel advises me to dare.
My Inheritance gone, I’m now aware
my pants like every jest have fallen down,
the Bubbly flat, my clouds all out of air.
I ring for more like a trillionaire
drinking til I’m blithe another noun.
My Other Counsel advises me to dare.
A police line-up in my underwear,
my usual Beauty pageant lets me down
the Bubbly flat, my clouds all out of air,
of course I spend my days and nights impaired,
whatever my stupidity compounds
my Other Counsel advises me to dare.
Hit in the face with a Gucci and a chair
my nose makes its fat, familiar sound
the Bubbly flat, my clouds all out of air.
My First Counsel chides me to beware
after I’ve been pissed out on the ground.
My Other Counsel advises me to dare.
Love is all but could I pair
a little bit of fish at half a pound
the Bubbly flat, my clouds all out of air,
or should I just finger the au pair,
is that still considered screwing around?
My Other Counsel advises me to dare.
I hear them say, I think he’s coming round
but I lean back into its eiderdown
in Bubbly’s flat, my clouds all out of air.
My Other Counsel advises me to dare.
Banoshuya
That
night
I
asked
the
Mother
of
God
what
was
to
become
of
me.
Then
she
came
to
me
holding
two
crowns,
one
white,
the
other
red.
She
asked
me
if
I
was
willing
to
accept
either of these crowns.
The
white
one
meant
that
I
should
persevere
in
purity,
and
the
red
that
I
should
become
a martyr. I said that I would accept them both.
St. Maximilian Kolbe
This pasture is so beautiful, soft and green
bordered row on row in red and white.
Purgatory is the land between
the prayer in the morning and the prayer at night.
The flowers are beyond all power and despair;
we bloom our heavy furnaces all day
but look how they curl in my hand
and fall asleep in such a painful flame.
$18.00, 340 pages