by Steve Straight
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| AI-generated graphic by NightCafé for The New Verse News. |
Something that serves as a check
or stop; to halt, squelch, or cancel;
to bring to a sudden end.
Example: “We put the kibosh on that
to prevent another tragedy.”
Whatever its origin––
Yiddish, Irish, Arabic,
or perhaps just the streets
of 1830s London––, though,
kibosh is still just a word.
When I put the kibosh on something,
I want it to stay kiboshed.
I would prefer a kibosh
to be a giant winged creature
with long talons and fierce eyes,
a mythical creature come to life.
I’m thinking some kind of griffin,
capable of plucking a certain human
out of his bunker
before he reanimates again
and causes another disaster,
or maybe out in the open,
on a golf course, say.
The kibosh would simply spirit this human
away, some place isolated
and barren and far from civilization.
This needs to happen soon,
because God knows I can’t wait
much longer to taste the champagne.
or stop; to halt, squelch, or cancel;
to bring to a sudden end.
Example: “We put the kibosh on that
to prevent another tragedy.”
Whatever its origin––
Yiddish, Irish, Arabic,
or perhaps just the streets
of 1830s London––, though,
kibosh is still just a word.
When I put the kibosh on something,
I want it to stay kiboshed.
I would prefer a kibosh
to be a giant winged creature
with long talons and fierce eyes,
a mythical creature come to life.
I’m thinking some kind of griffin,
capable of plucking a certain human
out of his bunker
before he reanimates again
and causes another disaster,
or maybe out in the open,
on a golf course, say.
The kibosh would simply spirit this human
away, some place isolated
and barren and far from civilization.
This needs to happen soon,
because God knows I can’t wait
much longer to taste the champagne.
Steve Straight’s books include Affirmation (Grayson Books, 2022), which won the 2023 William Meredith Award for Poetry, The Almanac (Curbstone/Northwestern University Press, 2012), and The Water Carrier (Curbstone, 2002). He was professor of English and director of the poetry program at Manchester Community College, in Connecticut.
