Poetry by Arnal Kennedy

BLACKBIRDS

2008-09-04T14:32:00.000-07:00

BLACKBIRDS

Blackbirds struggle in desperation
Circle over the blue river
Across green pastures
Now the worms death-bed
Fallen berries
Work in the cycle of decay.
They cut a path through the gorge
Bracketed by the mountains
Anemic trees on either side
Their habits and instincts
Endowed by what they cannot label.
In the wayward meaning of loss
And success they leave the climbing snow
For New Zealand or Africa
In liaison with the seasons
Warble in variations
As they crowd the sky.

Arnal Kennedy

THE BAR

2008-09-04T14:31:00.000-07:00

THE BAR

In the dim light of the bar
Patrons spill out near closing time.
Their emotions left in their empty glasses
While I talk absently to my quaff.
Suddenly, a woman sits next to me
Her conversation walks all over
The place about something absurd.
And, dips unexpectedly into a nail biter
Then concludes with cavalier wisdom.
Our laughter fills the edges of the room.
A chance encounter becomes durable
As cupid inches closer to unsheathe
An arrow.

Arnal Kennedy

ELATION

2008-09-04T14:29:00.000-07:00

ELATION

God, I have sought you with elation
Beside eager people of good intention.
Those who mine your veins of
Communion in a stain glass church.
We are not outside any part of you.
Meanwhile, there are children with
Hands on hips who prance through
The fire hydrants spray. Near them,
In a vacant lot, sitting on a wreck,
Are adolescent lovers who believe in
Promise like a strawberry horizon.
Can you see with awe and under-
Standing a hopeful world? Undeniable,
There is his mark; to embellish this
Reflection of an active life is a
Posthumous work still in progress.

Arnal Kennedy

THE FIG TREE

2008-09-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

THE FIG TREE

After the evening sex act
With my crazy ex-wife
Who knows professional tricks
And can work her body like a whore
Answered the question
Now is there peace between us?

The silent knowledge gathered
Steam of the power of woman
Over man reigns immortal
Like the truth of scripture
As she fired up the brim stone
To make me step back and squeal “oh”.

She molded me like clay on a potters wheel
Looked intensely into my eyes
And said, “I will give it all to you!”
I forgot the hurt, the indiscretion
That made the burning stars
Fall out the sky like dying embers.

We got to the soft conversation
Instead of the earthquake vibrations
Of anger, and saw myself as culprit
For every human action produces a result
So the cursed fig tree
Will never again bare fruit.

Arnal Kennedy

LEARNING LESSONS

2008-09-04T14:27:00.000-07:00

LEARNING LESSONS

It was in college in Yuma
And her face belonged
On a billboard.
She was Negro and Mexican
And not given her respect
In her hometown of Nogales.

Because her hair was too kinky
And her butt too big
Her skin the color of horchata.

The day she arrived
She was envied by other girls
Who had to watch dog their boy friends
And hated by boys who found out
She was not easy access.

But she found me
The only dog who was properly trained
And I learned early on
What is love anyway
Except the ability to grovel.

Arnal Kennedy

HOW IT IS

2008-09-04T14:25:00.000-07:00

HOW IT IS

A wife must be trained
That’s all there is to it.
Especially on Sunday’s
When you value your entertainment.
She may not understand
Your fascination with football
Her face screwed up
Like a contortionist.
She refers to it as sweaty men
In tights who run into each other
And fall down, and forget their
Homophobia of patting their
Teammates butt when something
Goes right. She wants to take
Our children to the Christmas
Parade, and can’t you miss a game?
Yes I can but not this one.
Although your family means everything
The way a rudder is to a boat.
Today the grainy air will be mutual loathing.

Arnal Kennedy

LAND OF DRUMS

2008-09-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

LAND OF DRUMS [For Phillis Wheatly]

Stolen from the Land Of Drums
Near the Senegal River
By enemy tribesman
For brightly colored cloth
Trinkets, rum, cowrie shells,
That determines status of a man.

Congo drums thump out the warning
Slave traders have come ashore
And in the rice fields chasing away birds
Dahobar would abduct you, your Mother
And your friend Obour for a debt
Fear swoops over you like a great bird.

African warriors drag the three
Of you through the thick bush
To the ocean’s rhapsody, Dahobar
His teeth gleaming haggles fiercely
Over his commodity like a shop owner
Leaves you with white men and imagination.

Two male captives jump over board
And are eaten by sharks, your memories
Die on the water like a grave
For the unforgiven. Close to America
They throw your Mother into the sea
And this new world will brand you slave.

Arnal Kennedy

ON THE MARGINS

2008-09-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

ON THE MARGINS

I stop in the Off Road Restaurant
Seven hours leaving Miami
To sober up from sampling the product.

I order black coffee in a mug
Like the truckers whose big rigs
Are parked in front. I have today’s special
On the menu steak and eggs.

The hefty waitress is all smiles
Pouring extra coffee
Asking questions I make up answers to.

A woman is breast feeding
Towel covering new infant’s head,
Her husband consumed in his breakfast.

I wish for a normal existence
Where jail doesn’t look over my shoulder
For society pushed me to the margins.

Two highway police officers
Sit at the counter,
I nail my greeting like a gymnast.

I merge the u-haul into traffic
Under a low mantled sun
Whispering the fear of skullduggery.

Arnal Kennedy

FALL SHORT

2008-09-04T14:19:00.000-07:00

FALL SHORT
As a teenager
In a mixed environment
I did not know
There was any shame
In being a violet
As opposed
To being a marigold
For they are both flowers

My friend said
"I would like
To date you
Even though
You are a Negro"

I said "even though"

Then I thought
You go to your church
And I go to my church
We all fall
Short of God equally
Arnal Kennedy

TO KILL

2008-09-04T14:17:00.000-07:00

TO KILL
He told me to touch the offal
Slimy, putrid, and throw it in
The bushes. My lesson was
To keep my food down and not be
Squeamish about death. With buck
Knife we skinned the deer, its
Head our ghastly trophy. My
Early education was smeared
With blood and privilege.

He told me I would be like him
And military elite I grew up
With rubbing elbows. His dour
Face so close I could smell
His nicotine breath. To look
Through his lens I had pedigree
For the trenches to proudly
Serve my country. The rank and
File was not for debate but my
Unresolved duty. He was preparing,
Conditioning, to live off the land,
Or kill just to kill.

Arnal Kennedy

THE OMEN

2008-09-04T14:15:00.000-07:00

THE OMEN

Someday we will meet
When our obsessions
Have lost their power to hurt.

Perhaps it will be at
Central Park West and you
Would’ve found the tender mercies

Of a girl friend to take into your
Confidence who will understand
The sliding fortune of your

Point of view. I will stand there
After introductions and remember
Your promises that ruled my world.

Later, in my apartment I will pen
A word or two as if meeting were an omen
And your apology which requires a different grit.

Arnal Kennedy

SHADOWS

2008-09-04T14:11:00.000-07:00

SHADOWS

She was the beast in my veins
My yesterday, today and tomorrow
Who let herself be coveted
By a boy too big for me to best.

Then came the snide remarks
From the victor who walked away
With the prize and placed self-pity
On my head like a hat too big to wear.

It wasn’t just the blood on my shirt
Or insight into girls that left me feeble
It was not having the power
To right a wrong in this raw deal.

This smelled bad as over ripe chicken,
When did their shadows start stalking each other,
Not even a lobotomy could erase this memory
Now the whole earth has been polluted.

Arnal Kennedy