Christopher MULROONEY

---

far niente


she lay an asperous husk
on the bedsheets but shapely
and demanded of us when we'd fucked
last

he lay nearby reading of
Hadrian's Temple in the air
holding the book above him

afterwards comparing notes
they rather thought us
ancient and mercurial




Minister of Transportation


fractious day fractious I say
I tell you want an independent contractor
you can't find one won't tell you any
aren't any no Sir not a one
fresh cheese got it right here
tea or coffee come on
sit tell me the news
what do you hear
how's everyone all about that
cookies here you want some maybe
I don't care about all that
WWII enthusiasts really bug me
I should go play Bunker Hill in a cocked hat
on my weekends which I don't have
in the first place in the second place
what's it all for
it recycles and goes around
who remembers Passchendaele
and the Marne now anyway
Little Round Top Devil's Den
the days of the Republic
this is Empire all my furniture
see my realm the two tracks
coming and going hither and yon
to hell and back
I'm the guy that put that there
sure it needs a lot of dressing
but I'm the guy that made sure holes were laid
end to end with pipe that trains go into
don't you ever forget it
have some vinaigrette




Mr. Executive Advisor


let the lie be assumed
as the father of it
cheerily down the billiard table
one by one down
by the pockets
go the balls

the rubber bumpers
repelled by felt
whirr and click of the balls




in the garden walls


the reflecting pool doesn't remembered lie
in a ditch somewhere
behind the lines

no it doesn't reflect anything but blue sky
and cloudy grey sky
and night

in a pretty conceit as if to say
verbose verboten
here is a similar thing
all the way that
bespeaks desire
and the say what
things there are else

what things are there
obelisks are things are columns
discs are flying discs are heroes
of the flying wars the silliness
of the season interstitial
with a niche to put it in

the grand review of all the armies




City of London


tea with milk the river ran
or coffee maybe at a pinch

slate-gray with scarlet trim

etc. the descriptive responses
of the think tank
precipitate a long roster
usually elided
for the capstone on the edifice we present
therefore I submit

on the face of new things altogether
winds bear new witness

but it is not a new thing
not at all to have this
Dr. Gachet defending
and diagnosing
Edgar Allan Poe
from the heights along a new river
perhaps not




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