by Katherine West
Banned saxophones
From Castro’s
Cuba
Confiscated
Violins
From the Cultural
Revolution
Meet in secret
With underground
Poetry
Under Stalin and
Censored books
Under Bush
Suspected visions
Slip through university
Borders
Masquerading as
Beowulf and
The Easter Bunny
Black poetry
Paints itself
White
Women’s poetry
Wears padded
Jockstraps
Serious poetry
Studies old Jerry Lewis
Movies and
The Three Stooges
They meet in
Central Park
Before an audience
Of hopeful
Notebooks
Katherine West is a poet presently living in northern Colorado and teaching Creative Writing at the local community college, museum, and Naropa University, which is in nearby Boulder, Colorado.
