Christopher Mulrooney

bio:

Christopher Mulrooney has written poems in Vanitas, Guernica, Beeswax, The Delinquent, Crannog, and fourW.

borscht belt

it isn’t a simply killing that was so funny thing
a waiter’s thumb
but a majordomo’s finger in the soup
plate by plate
the sitting at attention like plebes at the academy
and the roll call
and the watery soup


prestidigitation

prestige is the name
for it
after centuries have gone by

the coin produced by sleight of hand
out your ear

it can’t happen here

the business consortium
asserting national values
against a convenient faux


tribute

it seems more likely
now than shoes for Hottentots
the full megillah traipsed along the roadway
singing merrisomely that was required
the bar was raised
they praised the day welcome was ordained
where every ass was pained
before


falcon

a big bold minister of delights prancing upon the steps of azure
layabout the stare off the greensward
it can’t be tummy says
and drifts upward
the gorge rises
Hellespont and sport fishing
rising schools above the term
hysterica passio
down wantons down


request in triplicate form

the stemlines reach out to the globe
it’s a diffident thing all around
and there isn’t anything you can do about it
so why bother at all

the dews rise as rain if you have a dew point
Du Pont says the punter he’s off to the exchange

this for that dove from hat
a vintage where was water before

and the séance is dismissed