Three poems by David McLean

in attics cracks in plaster


in attics cracks grow in plaster and lath

so there might be horror and memories

and places for mad children to sleep,


because this nostalgic religiosity of devils

is food for ghouls who never noticed

that children get raped or that there are cracks


in the plaster everywhere, eyes leaping

from the disconsolate socket

because suffering is inessential


and timeless, and all that matters

is parenthetical or absent;

there are cracks in the plaster


and a stomach to love,

there are cozy kebabs occasionally,

but nothing under us, no god above


===================


the dancing snake


the dancing snake burns under a cold night sky

like Fafner unfurling his glowing wake behind him,

because some dragons only fly once as worlds stop

and cosmos grinds to a grinning halt


though the snake hisses like return and recurrence,

like sparks rising from the rubble

that becomes man's buildings burning,

lizards living in the ruins


with eggs and answers in them;

for here is the end of everything:

a dragon flying just one time, his eye

a glowing coal in no inhabited night,


mythology falling into life

as men become dragons resting on coins

in caves, this is the time of wolves

and the rending of the sexual flesh


mythology falling into death

again, the snake who releases his tail

so that worlds may end,

and a man and a woman


stand on naked earth again


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


night is evil for cats


the night is evil for cats who prefer not to sing passion

or oblivion; it is too cold soon for sleeping

in the privacy of the entire sky


and sexy elective affinities drag in mice and devils

inside them, time speaking like a disease

or a dream,


cats are animals who like to keep things clean,

who like to be, night is evil for them

because of freedom    


Author bits:


David McLean is from Wales but has lived in Sweden since 1987. He lives there with his partner, dog and cats. In addition to six chapbooks, McLean is the author of three full-length poetry collections: CADAVER’S DANCE (Whistling Shade Press, 2008), PUSHING LEMMINGS (Erbacce Press, 2009), and LAUGHING AT FUNERALS (Epic Rites Press, 2010). His first novel HENRIETTA REMEMBERS is coming shortly. More information about David McLean can be found at his blog, Autoerotic Elegies.