Hank Lazer

4 poems from Portions
  
TAKE


take your son

down to river

mouth magical cacophonous


half decadent heart

of light take

him with you


witness to how

we make a

new book eating


half a muffuletta

& fanning air

friends of this


book half mad

half prophetic phrenology

crackpot love of


dig down here

he says    word

up    jive turkey




LASTING


his last &

lasting presence elasticity

o loving time


hot city memory

these firing synapses

no traffic cop


in brain or

heart his last

& lasting presence


father i will

join you now

by heartfelt invocation


crossing decatur street

indeed café du

monde blessing &


repeating    you stood

here with bride

fifty-two years ago




PORTAL


for whom?   i

do have friends

& you among


them     portal     door

throttle    chortle    chicago

evokes them all


begin again or

be stuck in

misconstrual   poem &


poeming not about

its excellence     we

need more from


each other than

we can give

if we learned


another language     your

capgun looks real

"D up     monsieur"




IGNITION

            --for Charles Lloyd


ignition      liftoff      clarifying

spring morning sunlight

freshly roasted beans


& payday imminent

this earthturn    you

will see what


twenty or twenty-five

more times as

branch artery blood


breath vision instant

specific earthturn call

to hear finite


times delight a

music soul attuned

bass    sax     piano


drums      the water

is wide     why

not walk across






e-mail the poet at hlazer@bama.ua.edu
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