D.G. Geis divides his time between Houston and the Hill Country of Central Texas. He has an undergraduate degree in English Literature from the University of Houston and a graduate degree in philosophy from California State University. His poetry has appeared in 491 Magazine, Lost Coast, Blue Bonnet Review,The Broadkill Review, A Quiet Courage, SoftBlow International Poetry Journal, Blinders, Burningword Literary Journal, Poetry Scotland (Open Mouse), and Crosswinds,   He will be featured in a forthcoming Tupelo Press chapbook anthologizing  9 New Poets and is winner of Blue Bonnet Review's Fall 2015 Poetry Contest.

    Tips on how to choose clothing for the deceased.

Something dark is best.
Perhaps a Sunday suit

or formal business attire.
Something you might wear

for a special occasion--
like interviewing for a new job.

Your new position 
will require a certain panache.

Stiff determination 
and a resolute smile

should make a lasting impression
on your new Employer.

Later, as your suit empties
and you fade slowly

into the woodwork,
it will come to you

how deep 
life’s roots really run--

two of which
are already knocking, 

discreetly,
at your new front door. 


             Puppet Show

This Potemkin village barely stands.
Even the slightest breeze shakes its walls.
Look closely and you can see the seams 
Where the set designer joined them together.

There are no actors or extras, only half-dressed
Manikins beckoning from storefront windows like
Whores in Amsterdam—and, of course, standing 
On the sidewalk, cash in hand, their customers. 

Behind the curtain, standing in the wings, is Pinocchio,
Nose sharpened into a pencil, palms open, moving
Now to center stage, eyes on the audience, back to his 
Maker, waiting for the first tug of the strings that will 

Very shortly 

Move his enormous painted mouth.

D.G. Geis divides his time between Houston and the Hill Country of Central Texas. He has an undergraduate degree in English Literature from the University of Houston and a graduate degree in philosophy from California State University. His poetry has appeared in 491 Magazine, Lost Coast, Blue Bonnet Review,The Broadkill Review and A Quiet Courage. He will be featured in a forthcoming Tupelo Press chapbook anthologizing 9 New Poets and is also winner of Blue Bonnet Review's Fall 2015 Poetry Contest.

Dancing with the Stars by D.G. Geis
For Jeffrey Levine

There was that night 
you stood on the balcony 
and the stars counted you--

one of many squeaking things.
that smallness serves  
on a skinned plate.

Mr. Universe (an omnivore), 
did not have enough light 
to read the menu,

so he made a flashlight from your rib,  
and after he cooked it, 
he swallowed the rest of you whole.

Your skin he fashioned 
into a tattooed brick 
which he hurled 

through morning’s window.
And left you standing 
in daylight’s slippers

with morning’s coffee 
and a cigarette; 
as if nothing happened, 

as if you were invisible,
as if the smoke curling
around your fingers 

was the winter breath 
of a dazed runner 
or ash

from a starry crematorium.

​
​Texas Eagle by D.G. Geis

Between Mineola and Texarkana
      the mystery of trampolines 
      in the backyards of the poor

Outside St. Louis
     glass-eyed factories
     blinded by recession
     guided home by the kindness
     of power lines
     dieseled skank 
     the Mississippi 

     lifting her muddy skirt
          
Near Alton Illinois

     palsied farm houses
     shaking circles of bony elm 
    
     herefords in feedlots 
     waddling through duvets 
     of manure and snow

     skinned of corn
     detasseled fields 
     scabbed with ice

     sun hung over 
     retching behind a barn

At the Springfield Amtrak Station
     the buttoned down Amishman  
     sitting on a bench 
     calmly peeling an orange
     with a spoon. 

On the Illinois River outside Havana
    brick streets 
    red teeth rattling loose
    
    rusted cars hovering on blocks
    barges nudged by mothering tugs
    
    children shoving their way into a school bus
  
    the Ameren plant 
    night cleansing aerosol
    
    plumes of lengthening smoke

In Chicago 
 
    under the El
    two vagabonds making out
    on a Hefty bag
   
    Wheel of Fortune on Econolodge 
    lobby TV 

     night sting of streetlights
     morning yolk unbroken 
  

 dawn over easy

When dead friends appear by D.G. Geis

When dead friends appear
be kind enough to ask them in. 

They have traveled a long way
 and are doubtless tired. 

Be sure they have a comfortable place to sit
and remember the laws of hospitality. 

Perhaps a cup of coffee
or a carafe of wine. 

Inquire about their well being 
without being overly curious or intrusive. 

Trust their past with the same conviction 
you can trust your future. 

When they speak, listen carefully.
Be considerate of those still sleeping. 

It has been said attention 
is the purest form of generosity

and the only gift 
of the living to the dead. 

Never forget 
you will either be remembered or forgotten. 

Be thankful—be careful. 
There is nothing else. 

One day you will visit too.