Two poems by Ralph-Michael Chiaia

Poetry
by Ralph-Michael Chiaia

Name-changes

Bombay is a cool word, one of those place names that really means something—like Tikal, Cairo, Baghdad, Machu Pichu. Why would they want to change it? Marakesh, Southampton, Alicante, Oaxaca, Port-au-Prince, Manila, Fiji.


My name is Vejay, I come from Bombay
Thy now want to call it Mumbai
Persia, Iran, Ho Chi Minh, Saigon
what will they do to Dubai?
Who knows? I say. I don't care anyway, cause:
My name is Vejay, I come from Bombay

++++++++++++++++++++

Man Drawing Butterfly

I drew a butterfly
I drew you
drawing a butterfly
slain after he drew the sword.
Slain butterfly drawn here
once I drew
a sword on you, so
you wouldn't draw a man
drawing on a butterfly

Author bio:

Scratching posts have been scratched counter-clockwise. Fatwas have been issued. Dossiers have been compiled. Wanna see them? Wanna join the revolution? Then contact him and his compadres at For Monks Only where the secret to the universe will be--