Three Poems by Jeffrey Park

ANIMAL INSTINCTS

The cock crows at sunrise – a novel idea.

Here it comes, round and yellow
and warmth-giving like a brand new space heater,
oh boy, the excitement of it all!

Not like yesterday or the day before,

not like tomorrow or next Wednesday.
Ah, to share in his exuberance! In fact, I crowed
at daybreak twice last week myself,

just to give it a go. Didn’t seem to work for me

though, like howling at the moon
or scuffing the smooth turf with my heels
or rolling over and over, just can’t quite manage

to scratch that itch with compulsive

animal behaviors. Think I’ll try
running circles around the porch light tonight.
See if maybe that does the trick.

PREDATORY PRACTICES

She looks out onto a grey-green landscape,

all blocky structures and angular shadows

populated by small things that alternately

freeze and run for cover, and she gives voice

to new feelings, imaginings, itches that will

presently be scratched. In such a place and time

it’s good to be a predator, lovely to be alive,

lovely to be the object of communal fear.

 

REFLECTION ON THE WAVES

Reflection on the rolling waves, looks

like an albatross flying backwards

fleeing upwells, chop, stray lobster pots,

reflection and shadow soaring on

in place, rising above the surface of

the sea, surging upwards like a fighter

jet, like a missile, set to explode into

a roiling school of high altitude sardines.



Baltimore native Jeffrey Park lives in Munich, Germany, where he works at a private secondary school and teaches business English to adults. His poems have appeared in Requiem, Deep Tissue, Danse Macabre, Crack the Spine, Right Hand Pointing and elsewhere, and his digital chapbook, Inorganic, has recently been published online by White Knuckle Press. Links to all of his published work can be found at www.scribbles-and-dribbles.com.