Tag: Dale Champlin

Poetry

David Hockney Is Dead by Dale Champlin

The last time I saw David Hockneywe were in the postage stamp-sized elevatorto the fourth floor at ABC Carpet & Home. I was probably fifty—he sixty. Surprisingly,he was wearing jeans and a white t-shirt. I felt like a small girl with an eager face,too beet-maroon to address him directly.“What are you shopping for?” I could have asked—or made banal chit-chat. Instead, I stared at the dirty wooden floor … Continue reading David Hockney Is Dead by Dale Champlin

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Poetry

A Deeper Ruby and Smoldering Eye by Dale Champlin

—after Rita Dove’s “Girls on the Town, 1946” Thirty seconds across the threshold           music grabs your neck & shouldersshakes you free from questions—           your mother’s worried eyesyour father’s furrowed brow. Across the darkened room           you recognize faceslit by swirling silver flashes— red lips laughing, eyes outlined            in diamond glitter.These are your people,           your sisters in youth. Close your eyes—           ease your body                     onto the dance floor.Let the music envelop you.   Now perfume, … Continue reading A Deeper Ruby and Smoldering Eye by Dale Champlin

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Poetry

Everything’s Tickity-Boo by Dale Champlin

When my heart beats too fast      it sets off an alarm. My watch keeps count to the tick, tick, talk of my grandmother clock.      Imagine a woodpecker beating a ratta-tat-tat into the bark of a tree to harvest a grub.      Maybe this is too graphic—let me say—it’s as if I’m up to the yin-yang in sugar-laced marzipan.     When I write, each tick of my pen records a tock of … Continue reading Everything’s Tickity-Boo by Dale Champlin

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Poetry

Green Goddess Dressing by Dale Champlin

Her head presents large as a cabbagewhen I pluck her from my garden—stony ground all but bare after harvest.She looks the way I want to remember her—a salad—tulle of lettuce leaves pale as the embrace of her pea-pod green eyes.She demurs with a wilting expression.I add three cups of arugula, julienned cucumber,a handful of basil leaves, slice an avocado in halfand prise out the pit to … Continue reading Green Goddess Dressing by Dale Champlin

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Poetry

I Hate the Whole World by Dale Champlin

“How frequently has melancholy and even misanthropy taken possession of me…“-Mary Wollstonecraft My life is the size of a Cheerio—brittle as oats,something missing in the center.Rooms cramped and dismal, dust mites lurk in every crevice.My life’s soul is the same as everyone else’s soulbut without the music—only a base trackhumming with the low vibrationof an electric fence. It grows moodyand remote the way dry winter aircracks … Continue reading I Hate the Whole World by Dale Champlin

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Poetry

Oh the feel of it by Dale Champlin

the day is getting closerclimbing like a high notesoft as a whisperbetrayal Lord now it (the note I mean)swings back and forth on a current of airand you’re just a slip of a thingit’s all I can do to lie still beneath thebedcoversthe pale breath of youcatching in my throatI trynot to thinkor not to think too much or I might die of something or otheror spend … Continue reading Oh the feel of it by Dale Champlin

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Poetry

Regretfully Yours by Dale Champlin

“and even you forgot those brilliant flashes seen from afar” —Ruth Stone I should have taken you up on that trip to Mexico—my only chance to swim in the gulf, to surfthe exotic and erotic; tequila, bizarro birds,burnished sunrise through slats in the shutters,instead of a turndown. My big mistake was to playthe fool—too cool for school. I should have held youin my strong arms, … Continue reading Regretfully Yours by Dale Champlin

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Poetry

Come, Lovers of Dark Corners by Dale Champlin

The stars know everything—how we toiledover every piece of furniture we own—the mohair sofa with its button tufts,the dining room table sweat-polished smoothas glass, your dad’s easy-glide Barcalounger.We thought the bed too tame—mundaneas white-on-rice.  That was before we did it on the lawnat four a.m., the boat dock when the tide was out, the army hammock and the diving board.We worked over the meadow, the hayloft,the … Continue reading Come, Lovers of Dark Corners by Dale Champlin

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Poetry

Otherwise by Dale Champlin

-for my husband I have climbed you like a flagpole       and left you at half-mast.I have run roughshod over you       then begged for more.I have cracked you like a safe       and looted all that I could carryI have cried on your shoulder       and hung you out to dry.You are Everest to my Mariana Trench,       a matchstick to my bonfire. I duck when you deluge       and squint when you shine.You mean the world … Continue reading Otherwise by Dale Champlin

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