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.
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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. |
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