ERNIE WORMWOOD

THE INNISFREE POETRY JOURNAL

Ernie Wormwood

ROOFTOP AT THE SCULPTURE GARDEN

A man and a woman so happy
to have met they smile
way into the pain zone
on the rooftop at the Metropolitan.
All afternoon they blow Miracle Bubbles
into the glass window
from the bubblemaking jar--
great big ones that
pop pop and splatter
as they watch the people of
the rooftop seashore
and sip $9 wines ala plastique
like Superman and Lois
finally freed by recognition, nearly
brain bleed reeling at the altitude of love

Two large wasps in yellow tube
attire arrive to tango on the veranda
but the drink cart waiter runs over one.
Oh, how the bereaved wasp moans as
loudly as it can in silence
weeps without tears and thrashes
its wings in grief before
it flies away

How the man and woman talk into the late
afternoon of the suffering of bubbles
when one hits the glass
How they talk of the widowed wasp
and whether the sun is lonely
what happens when a flower is born
between the concrete and the brick
How they talk of these things
all afternoon at the garden of sculpture
on a rooftop in Central Park
in glorious New York on earth
until they began to moan in quiet
weep without tears and flap their wings,
Did I mention they are angels?
Ask the clouds, they saw it all

THE FELINE OF KISSING

You would think everything had
already been said about kissing
then I kissed him again
after a long time of not kissing him again
in the seduction of the albino moon.

I swear our tongues were crying
from the happiness of coming home
slithering like snakes
shaking like puppies then
laughing their tonguey laughter

as their feline came out and all
the dogs began to howl
the purring started and took over the world
two cat-tongued lovers
our peachy fur erupting
our claws receding into our paws.

Ernie Wormwood

Ernie Wormwood has been published in The Antietam Review, Rhino, Perpetuum Mobile, Main Channel Voices, the new Creation Journal and at Raintiger and Poetrybay online. New work will be appearing at Hotmetal Press online. She was recently featured in Grace Cavalieri's The Poet and the Poem broadcast for the Library of Congress. She is grateful to the Squaw Valley Community of Writers and Southampton Writer's Conference for artistic support. A Washington, D.C., native, Ernie lives in Leonardtown, Maryland.

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