from Issue #8: Poetry by J. Kates

Photo (CC) takomabibelot @ Flickr

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(untitled)

My lady’s pet Agàpornis,
Who sang for us all summer long
Both night and day
has flown away.
But mockingbirds around the house
Still sing the love-bird’s song.

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(untitled)

Don’t look for beauty everywhere.
Twisted concertina wire
May bring to mind a metaphor
………….Of vine and root,
But it will never bud and flower —
………….Much less fruit.

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Euphemism

No one knows
why
Boswell chose
π.

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With the gift of a book

O lucky book, that witless lies
upon my lady’s open thighs!

Unlucky book — so unaware
what luck it is to linger there!

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ABOUT THE POET

J. KATES is a poet and literary translator who lives in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire.