Thomas Wooten: Two Poems

Desperate Search Abandoned | Emergency on Redondo Boulevard

Desperate Search Abandoned

The birds were having a field day.
It was summer and school was out.
What do you expect from nature
with only a high school diploma
allowing that thunder in the west
to disturb our little peace here
on earth. It’s just not right. But
the contract was bid upon
and finagled in the tops
of trees where those birds
are saying enough of this
bullshit, let’s call a new election
and be done with this contrived
arrangement of ions and moon
beam. Rock yourself to sleep,
pretend you’re a turtle with portfolio,
summer will be over soon. Soon
the rut we’ve dug to get out of the rut
will be buried under old routine.

Emergency on Redondo Boulevard

Can you imagine being an exterminator,
a bug man? I can. Driving around in a van
all day with the drawing of an insect on the side.
It would be bliss. Of course having a mistress
in a high-rise would be a part of it, someone
to hand you a martini when you set your
canister down. Such daydreams! To be
happy should not be the goal of life,
that’s what we’re led to believe. But
do you hear the rain on the roof,
understand how long the stove’s
been dead? I don’t mean to make a mockery
of western philosophy, but I do believe
she’d be wearing something sheer
and black and have a rose between
her teeth. Life should have meaning
but in whose book? The toaster-oven
is not, after all, such a silly invention.

Poet's Biography:

Thomas Wooten’s fiction and poetry have appeared in The Georgia Review, The Quarterly, The Adirondack Review, the Birmingham Poetry Review, Poem and other journals. Recent work has appeared in Eleven Bulls, Snow Monkey and Rattle. He lives in the American South. His email address is limeworks50@hotmail.com.