Fred Ferraris
FEAST DAY
The hungry march on flood-washed gravel
stumble into quicksand postures
stagger through heated gestures
wedged in fashions snagged by craving
the pedestrian wallow in shallow passions
(the real action takes place underground)
unraveled nostalgias, rations of selvage
spilled-out memories, spit-up bile
ghoul & hen’s tail refortified catechists
rapt young oafs slapping wine down throats
their abraded foreheads crowned with corn
greedy dirt hungry river
a nostalgia for the killing ground
turnip vapors seeping through fissures
a scabrous root stones scratch all day
a movable chair obstructed by thickets
a corner-man who deals in widgets
churning the hurdy-gurdy
of gist & pith he’s a Philistine and a crook
but she hungers to hear his crop stones grinding
a tensile rhythm that evokes fontal truth
of desperado’s swollen stem
that fails to fatten hungry potholes
congealed angles conceal crumbs of gold
barbaric plaster & analgesic castings
the model is an elaborate boundary
of infantile chanteys unanswered prayers
full-throated pleas hammered into stonecrop
a muffled bellow echoed in his prance
Copyright 2000, Fred Ferraris
Ferraris' poems have been published in magazines, anthologies and chapbooks.
His book, "Older than Rain" appeared in 1997 (Selva Editions). This poem
is from "Mud Radio" to be published in 2000.
Switched-on Gutenberg/Vol. 4, No. 2
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