Poetry by Gordon W. Mennenga
There go the garbage cans
And my neighbor’s loose-lipped lover
Duck! here comes the Public Library snowing pages
And oh those unwilling Clydesdales galloping sideways
Next the organ from St. John’s Church humming a flirty mystery hymn
A police car celebrating being quick and blue
Some little things: a wig without a woman, a man without a damn
Uncle Frank’s rabbit hutch then Uncle Frank
Did I see truth chasing gossip?
A cart and then a horse?
A shoal of minnows swimming the wind to big water
A flock of hallowed words
A herd of No Trespassing signs free at last
Six senators chasing their reputations
Then naked notes of happiness, regret and ecstasy
A rapturous tillerless sailboat
Bubbles of existentialism staying low to the ground
Algorithms and syllogisms galore
Smokey riffs from Nina, from Chet, Dinah and Billie
Boredom blown to ashes
Sid, the cardiologist, wearing a nice pair of loafers
Herds, coveys, caravans, gaggles, packs and pods
Me, I’m lifting off, not clinging but joining.
Gordon W. Mennenga has had work featured on NPR and published in the Bellingham Review, Epoch, Citron Review and other literary journals. He earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and lives in Iowa City, Iowa.
