Two poems by Joseph Goosey

CLASSICALLY TRAINED PIANO WHICH PLAYS ITSELF WHEN NOBODY'S LOOKING 

Spastic and baseball season for my son 

Washed my clothes to go to Columbia 

I've always thought South Carolina could be done without

But here I here sit sweating through association 

handshakes get drunk 

eat chicken get drunk 

I forget your name so

I'm gonna start introducing myself as Hanz Lispector 

If I become a conversation piece 

I won't have to hold a conversation 

The laundry room rattles The train

farts across town 

Are we so desperate that 

We're so desperate that we fill out forms 

so the internet can inform us we'd be better off living in Leads

Thanks internet 

let me pack up all my shit for the third time this year

and call the multitude of friends I have to help me move 

I'm sure they'll be more than willing 

since they have toddlers jobs and law or med schools

April was a decent month 

Can't sit be inside of last April's womb

You were flying into town 

I was falling into thorns

On the day we spent together I didn't eat

and didn't notice

Another way of confirming you've enjoyed yourself

Now I shove down Wavy Lays and onion dip by the pound 

There's always sudden-adult-death syndrome 

There's always the train tracks 

There's always lost in the snow 

There's always more minutes on a calendar for which we never asked

There's always hosting a garage sale selling everything your cat

There's always Sundays with intentions of sobriety 

I am going to grow fat 

I am going to grow fat and squint Squint 

and throw five bucks toward the sun 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

DEEP FRIED COOKIE DOUGH 

The dandruff of the situation 

Hollowed body - a self 

Construct walls human 

they protect the freedom to grieve 

but what about the freedom of the bigot

who, while deserving of a knocking of the genitals, 

has certain rights 

either that 

or none of us have certain rights 

(probably the case) 

Inside we're all a huge factory farm 

but the state fair remains depressing

KNOW WHAT'S ON YOUR PLATE 

read the signs 

but the baby ducks slide down a ramp 

and for some reason there're guinea pigs 

(not the customers) 

I placed my palm on on the breath of a cow 

and throwing the boxed up IHOP on the steps 

of the capitol building 

and calling in a police report 

claiming the place had been broken into 

just so the responding officer might think once

even for one minutes

about why all the pancakes on the steps of his state 

was the highlight of the trip 

Author bits: 

Joseph Goosey is in Southern Pines, North Carolina where he knows essentially no one. His work has appeared in some number of places.