Poems and Texts

“OFF SHROUD” by Michael Gizzi

OFF SHROUD

The new Schenectady is now in
effect Brother Jim Tuesday last
you were seen scaring piranha
from the head of the accused
we see you involved in lots of
moustache and though you make
a terrifying cruller don’t bother
reading your horoscope to borrow
the lawnmower the zodiac could be
the relic of a child prodigy holed up
with nefarious cheesemen in a crib
on Mont Lunacy no Stellar Prep just
crickets bouncing handballs off
the Elgin Marbles such pictures
as Tiberius took from Elephantiasis
whose epicurean nates grew corn
to save his face and populate a postage
stamp sure the shadow of the oriole
will behave from this day forward
everyone will have a chaperone
it is a natural theory of evolution
this bell will ring the bell of your
accomplishment you’re having
a dream like you have a life

Michael Gizzi

Michael Gizzi was born on February 13, 1949, in Schenectady, NY. He received his BA and MFA from Brown University. For seven years he worked as a tree surgeon in southeastern New England, before moving in the early 1980s to the Berkshires where he taught at Lenox High for many years. In 2003, he returned to Providence to teach at Roger Williams College and Brown University. The author of more than fifteen books of poetry, he also worked as an editor with Hard Press, “Lingo” magazine, and Qua Books. He died in Providence, late September, 2010.