DONALD ILLICH

THE INNISFREE POETRY JOURNAL

Donald Illich

THE CEREMONY OF THE DANCING CHICKEN

I feel I could die
in the most ridiculous ways—

a piano falling out a window,
mashing me into paste,

a mime battering me to death
with an imaginary club,

a child’s balloon lifting me
into a collision with Mary Poppins,

even dying on the toilet like Elvis,
not from a heart attack,

a tornado dropping the gas station
I’m in on Dorothy’s house,

my body crushed instead of a witch’s.
My death will be in "News of the Weird"

next to robbers who leave wallets
on the bank teller’s counter

and the strange Indonesian ceremony
of the dancing chicken.

DRAGONS

After seeing The Hobbit
I had one ambition in life:
stealing an evil dragon

by jumping inside a cartoon,
turning the flat images
into steel armor, red scales,

and loathsome wings.
We’d fly to my school,
hunt down bullies, burn

them like flamethrowers
destroyed infantry in
hour long army men wars

we had during recess.
My teachers would paint
nervous As on my papers.

My parents would have to
let me fly across the city,
scaring pilots, prompting

UFO calls to secretive,
close-mouthed officials.
I’d use my powers for good,

stop thieves from looting
banks, criminals from killing
their victims. Its claws

would shred roofs; I’d pick
out the best games and toys,
hoard them in a child’s lair

carved within the town’s hills.
I’d amuse myself for years,
deep inside my childhood.

Donald Illich
Donald Illich is a technical writer with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Rockville, Maryland. He has had poetry published in The Iowa Review and Fourteen Hills and has poems forthcoming in New Zoo Poetry Review, Roanoke Review, and HazMat Review.

Home
Current Issue
Submissions
Contributors' Notes

Deborah Ager

Karren Alenier

John Allman

Anne Becker

Mel Belin

Bruce Bennett

Doraine Bennett

Cliff Bernier

Doris Brody

Trina Carter

Grace Cavalieri

Norma Chapman

Maritza Rivera Cohen

Yoko Danno

Barbara DeCesare

Donna Denizé

Julie Enszer

Colin Flanigan

Roger Fogelman

Martin Galvin

Barbara Goldberg

JoAnne Growney

Sarita Hartz

James C. Hopkins

John Hoppenthaler

Laurie Hurvitz

Donald Illich

W. Luther Jett

J. Ladin

Diane Lockward

Jason Maffettone

Judith McCombs

Louis McKee

Larry Moffi

Miles David Moore

Yvette Neisser

Brent Pallas

Lee Patton

Hilary Tham

Rosemary Winslow

Kathi Wolfe

Ernie Wormwood

More

Email this poem

Printer friendly page

Last Updated: Sep 16th, 2007 - 08:34:32