~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Desire Street August, 1996 cyberspace chapbook of The New Orleans Poetry Forum established 1971 Desire, Cemeteries, Elysium Listserv: DESIRE-Request@Sstar.Com Email: Robert Menuet, Publisher robmenuet@aol.com Mail: Andrea S. Gereighty, President New Orleans Poetry Forum 257 Bonnabel Blvd. Metairie, La 70005 Programmer: Kevin R. Johnson Copyright 1996, The New Orleans Poety Forum (10 poems for August, 1996) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Contents: Saved by the Chlorophyll Advanced Mathematics I Do In View of the Cemetery Not here, not now Old Man pink tooth-brush Poetry in its Soft-ball Stage Yellow Brick Road Loneliness -------------------------------------------- Saved by the Chlorophyll by Clara C. Connell I have the desire to crawl into my lungs and breathe you. Where there is choking, I would weed the windy pain, bleeding the chlorophyll of green-leafed lungs that survive the arid ground. I am falling in the distant rain. Flowering on the edge of an icicle. Crying into bloom in the treetop of epiphanies. You are Beelzebub, bribing me with a flute while I dance the seedy dirt. I am bare-assed and flying on the besmirched horns of decadence, begging to be stirred in my neighboring Neptune. I see you: A teasing labyrinth in the empty sky. A white speck in the black milk. The gristly vortex in the skirts of snakes with mirrors. Becoming hope in the crushing watery space. Shiny green leaves enter me like an evangelist. A wild dove feeds my burning tongue. Taming the snorting fire. Cleaning my eyes with providence. Cooling me with the spit of beyond. See me breathing. The embrace. Leaving the leeching. Passing the gates and praising the chlorophyll. -------------------------------------------- Advanced Mathematics by Andrea S. Gereighty Your wet dream, age twelve an Andre Gide fantasy woman spread-eagle: alive, though wrists handcuffed. Free style, breast stroke: arms earthbound wings tied to stakes, mattress springs. Legs tethered in leather her body a perfect mathematical X the one variant, a real restraint Constricts constraints silk blindfold. My style? Astride, side by side or some position more akin to Y, the other unknown. -------------------------------------------- I Do by Barbara Lamont I sat on a chenille covered bed in a cheap motel in Asbury Park the night I decided to marry you. You played bridge lightly sprawled on a cheap tin folding chair, the backs of your hands pale in the darkness. You riffled and ruffled the cards and I knew that you knew and grew moist between my knees slick with pressed nylon and long grey garters stretched halfway down my thighs, which is what we wore those days. I had a hat with a brim to give me depth I think we smoked, red red Revlon lipstick against the white filter like the Queen of Hearts. Two no-trump, you intoned your bush blonde eyebrows uniting suddenly to make you look fierce and I knew you would win the game, and me. I left it all behind that night on a bed in Asbury Park New Jersey, cast my lot with yours yet we did not touch or speak all the way home to Bronxville where Ernest let me in two minutes to curfew. In the afterwarmth of victory You said "he should have trumped". I smelled the starry South Carolina nights in your hair, and dreamed. -------------------------------------------- In View of the Cemetery by Christine Trimbo Headstones rise above the wall white in the set sun two runners plod, breathing out Waiting cars rumble heavy music blows from windows the green light disappears them soon Waiter/students on the deck feet on black-wire chairs reading the paper, so slow The umbrella sprouts above the center table the shade has spread evenly -------------------------------------------- Not here, not now by Robert Menuet Try not to remember that thought you just had. Ssshhhh, this is a library! Those weren’t gunshots, not here on Napoleon, avenue of the Little Corporal, his victories all around us: Marengo, Milan, Jena, Cadiz, Austerlitz, etc. That volley of pops, they were too small to be anything but Chinese fireworks; they invented gunpowder you know. Or could it be a .22 caliber? But who ever thought of a .22 automatic? Maybe a little tommygun, a miniature for the city's rats, like in a disney movie, rat gangsters in pin stripe suits. Gangsters and bankers, they dress the same, especially on St. Valentine’s Day. They finally got Capone for Income Tax Evasion, and the Volstead Act was repealed. Antoine’s had a special room during prohibition, you entered through a door marked Ladies. I just heard of a 9mm gun that was maimed a gangster who was stupping another gangster’s momma. Sounds Oedipal, doesn't it, but there it is, Oedipus Cracks. I wonder what that boy told his momma after he shot her 21-year old man. But that was in Washington. Try not to think about it. -------------------------------------------- Old Man by John Kopfler I see you, Old Man, in the cliffs' crags at dawn. Teach me to stalk cougar on your desert floor -- teach my wings silence. Have your palm fronds rustle the still night. Walk my feet, Old Man, in the dreams of my twilight quest. -------------------------------------------- pink tooth-brush by kevin R. johnson under the splintered flow of fingers between the criss-cross of extremities migrating a tussled bed I am an X dead center below you then we curl like worms in this bliss- soaked landscape of infinite curves of tongue & hips & I want these smells to last not washed away with Dawn not corrupted by propriety. -------------------------------------------- Poetry in its Soft-ball Stage by Nancy Cotton It's that original trick (In the beginning was the word) Of making something Out of nothing That boggles the mind, yet Is so common, As we struggle with our own Hats. But when magician turns observer, Flights of doves to facts, Words like warm fudge Drop to experimental form In the cold element of water. -------------------------------------------- Yellow Brick Road by Cedelas Hall A middle-aged father waits inside his truck, writes copious journals, accepts...welcomes his slow starving death inside a snow embankment, only feet from people passing, yards from a cleared road, safe within his tomb beside his yellow brick road. He waits for the tap on the window, voice of salvation. -------------------------------------------- Loneliness by Paul Chasse Loneliness isn't alone Its rain Big wet Sloppy drops Jesus's tears Loneliness isn't alone Its fog Wake up Empty bed Wet windowpanes Loneliness isn't alone It's night Hungry cat Campbell's soup T. V. sorrows Loneliness isn't alone It's everywhere ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE POETS OF DESIRE STREET Paul Chasse Clara C. Connell lives in the country with her cat Sniffles. She is a psychotherapist. Nancy Cotton is an immigration attorney. Andrea Saunders Gereighty owns and manages New Orleans Field Services Associates, a public opinion polls business and is currently the president of the New Orleans Poetry Forum. Her poetry has appeared in many journals, as well as in her book, ILLUSIONS AND OTHER REALITIES. Cedelas Hall is from Brookhaven, Mississippi. Her chapbookBefore They Paved the Road recounts her experiences in that state. A writer/actress, she appeared as "M'Lynn" in "Steel Magnolias" at LePetit Theatre du Vieux Carre. Kevin Johnson, Piscean, enjoys Tequila under the stars and writes about the physiology of nothingness. John Kopfler is a Wise Man who lives on Island Road in St. Francisville. Barbara Lamont writes about fear. Robert Menuet is a psychotherapist, marital therapist, and clinical supervisor. Previously he was a social planner. Christine Trimbo lives in a house that once neighbored Degas' house. She has two bicycles and a grey kitten named Lolita. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ABOUT THE NEW ORLEANS POETRY FORUM The New Orleans Poetry Forum, a non-profit organization, was founded in 1971 to provide a structure for organized readings and workshops. Poets meet weekly in a pleasant atmosphere to critique works presented for the purpose of improving the writing skills of the presenters. From its inception, the Forum has sponsored public readings, guest teaching in local schools, and poetry workshops in prisons. For many years the Forum sponsored the publication of the New Laurel Review, underwritten by foundation and government grants. Meetings are open to the public, and guest presenters are welcome. The meetings generally average ten to 15 participants, with a core of regulars. A format is followed which assures support for what is good in each poem, as well as suggestions for improvement. In many cases it is possible to trace a poet’s developing skill from works presented over time. The group is varied in age ranges, ethnic and cultural background, and styles of writing and experience levels of participants. This diversity provides a continuing liveliness and energy in each workshop session. Many current and past participants are published poets and experienced readers at universities and coffeehouses worldwide. One member, Yusef Komunyakaa, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for 1994. Members have won other distinguished prizes and have taken advanced degrees in creative writing at local and national universities. Beginning in 1995, The New Orleans Poetry Forum has published a monthly electronic magazine, Desire Street, for distribution on the Internet and computer bulletin boards. It is believed that Desire Street is the first e-zine published by an established group of poets. Our cyberspace chapbook contains poems that have been presented at the weekly workshop meetings, All poems presented at Forum meetings may be published in their original form unless permisssion is specifically withheld by the poet. Revisions are accepted until the publication deadline of Desire Street. Publication is in both message and file formats in various locations in cyberspace. Workshops are held every Wednesday from 8:00 PM until 10:30 at the Broadmoor Branch of the New Orleans Public Library, 4300 South Broad, at Napoleon. Annual dues of $10.00 include admission to Forum events and a one-year subscription to the Forum newsletter, Lend Us An Ear. To present, contact us for details and bring 15 copies of your poem to the workshop. Copyright Notice Desire Street, August, 1996 Copyright 1996, The New Orleans Poetry Forum. 10 poems for August, 1996. Message format: 14 messages for August, 1996. Various file formats. Desire Street is a monthly electronic publication of the New Orleans Poetry Forum. All poems published have been presented at weekly meetings of the New Orleans Poetry Forum by members of the Forum. The New Orleans Poetry Forum encourages widespread electronic reproduction and distribution of its monthly magazine without cost, subject to the few limitations described below. A request is made to electronic publishers and bulletin board system operators that they notify us by email when the publication is converted to executable, text, or compressed file formats, or otherwise stored for retrieval and download. This is not a requirement for publication, but we would like to know who is reading us and where we are being distributed. Email: robmenuet@aol.com (Robert Menuet). We also publish this magazine in various file formats and in several locations in cyberspace. Copyright of individual poems is owned by the writer of each poem. In addition, the monthly edition of Desire Street is copyright by the New Orleans Poetry Forum. Individual copyright owners and the New Orleans Poetry Forum hereby permit the reproduction of this publication subject to the following limitations: The entire monthly edition, consisting of the number of poems and/or messages stated above for the current month, also shown above, may be reproduced electronically in either message or file format for distribution by computer bulletin boards, file transfer protocol, other methods of file transfer, and in public conferences and newsgroups. The entire monthly edition may be converted to executable, text, or compressed file formats, and from one file format to another, for the purpose of distribution. Reproduction of this publication must be whole and intact, including this notice, the masthead, table of contents, and other parts as originally published. Portions (i.e., individual poems) of this edition may not be excerpted and reproduced except for the personal use of an individual. Individual poems may be reproduced electronically only by express paper-written permission of the author(s). To obtain express permission, contact the publisher for details. Neither Desire Street nor the individual poems may be reproduced on CD-ROM without the express permission of The New Orleans Poetry Forum and the individual copyright owners. Email robmenuet@aol.com (Robert Menuet) for details. Hardcopy printouts are permitted for the personal use of a single individual. Distribution of hardcopy printouts will be permitted for educational purposes only, by express permission of the publisher; such distribution must be of the entire contents of the edition in question of Desire Street. This publication may not be sold in either hardcopy or electronic forms without the express paper-written permission of the copyright owners. FIN *********************************************** FIN