a photo an antler of a stag
seeing the horns of a bull
fragile the bones
the bones of a bull rider
yellow the bones
white the summer blossoms
a girl in his arms
her hips swaying
white her summer dress floating
her hips swaying
between her thighs the black rose
between his eyes a shrunken head
a knife in a loaf of bread
white her summer dress floating
an old tattoo on withered skin
the word ‘captivity’
O Mistress Mine My Lady
My Lady growing
out of a mound of dirt
My Lady growing out of rotten meat
out from core and root
out of an ant hill a waft of air
her apple scented skin
my toothless mouth gentle its kiss
my wounded woman
her apple scented skin
My Queen of Hearts My Marilyn
The old convict whispering—
my ulcerous tongue
broken your knuckles
ripped the callus of your foot
The old convict washing her feet
torn your ligaments
your coffee brown nipples
erect like my thumbs
The old convict trembling
I’m under your thumb
passionate my gums
my toothless mouth gentle its kiss
The old convict digging
small holes from front to back
from back to front
seeing endless endless summer blossoms
crouching over the earth
white the summer blossoms swaying
squatting over the earth
her hips swaying between her thighs
the black rose
an old tattoo on withered skin
The old convict hearing
a singing cowboy—mine is the power
The old convict digging small holes
putting in the ground
the root of love
My Queen of Hearts My Marilyn
folding in the ground
words words of velvety fur
words about to make a kill
My Queen of Hearts My Marilyn
words of small eyes
words of fossorial forefeet
My Queen of Hearts My Marilyn
Rochelle Owens, a frequent contributor to The New Verse News, is the author of twenty books of poetry, plays, and fiction, the most recent of which are Solitary Workwoman, (Junction Press, 2011), Journey to Purity (Texture Press, 2009), and Plays by Rochelle Owens (Broadway Play Publishing, 2000). A pioneer in the experimental off-Broadway theatre movement and an internationally known innovative poet, she has received Village Voice Obie awards and honors from the New York Drama Critics Circle. Her plays have been presented worldwide and in festivals in Edinburgh, Avignon, Paris, and Berlin. Her play Futz, which is considered a classic of the American avant-garde theatre, was produced by Ellen Stewart at LaMama, directed by Tom O’Horgan and performed by the LaMama Troupe in 1967, and was made into a film in 1969. A French language production of Three Front was produced by France-Culture and broadcast on Radio France. She has been a participant in the Festival Franco-Anglais de Poésie, and has translated Liliane Atlan’s novel Les passants, The Passersby (Henry Holt, 1989). She has held fellowships from the NEA, Guggenheim, Rockefeller, and numerous other foundations. She has taught at the University of California, San Diego and the University of Oklahoma and held residencies at Brown and Southwestern Louisiana State.
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