dracula imagines the potato
leaning on his bicycle’s handles dracula
has his questions such as
who sorted the world into prey and predator
dracula lives
in the threat of a sunrise with his questions
after which he must sleep
a particular vampire routine
that is inefficient but beautiful
like the rising and setting of the moon
like grass growing through the pavement cracks
and exclamatory graffiti in the men’s room
turning the bike around dracula wonders
which are predator and which prey
together the two make a vague world of
the small and the larger
the clean scent of mist is
the sign to start heading home
arriving around 5am dracula goes up
to the 3rd floor up
to the door of his apartment lets himself in
his sleep will be peaceful
//
walking through the world dracula has his questions
leaves in the gutter smell rotten
the typewriter is slowly killing him
one word at a time
he knows
you don’t really get to predict your death
but you can read the warning signs
long ago the ants lifted any last remains of food in the apartment
gold twilight glitters outside
making a dusky gloam-light inside
and moons are more beautiful anyway
the filmmaker and the poet
know
there’s something sweet about moonlight
some of his friends are vampires too
a friend said
go so slow when hunting
that the world forgets you he dreams
of villages and mossy
mountains and red
apples and the descent of the sun
into the treelike
//
riding a dark bike trail dracula has questions
what i wonder is why death
sometimes comes as a complete surprise
to the living there is no answer
the bicycle’s left
handle was always sharp
with static
of each human dracula wonders
has its time come
dracula wonders why
in the world
jubilation survives the longest of any emotion
in the stairwell dracula hears his neighbors are talking
one bought a potato for dinner
shows a brown tuber to her partner
//
in the
dark her corpse has a
totemic solidity dracula imagines the potato
Jack Giaour‘s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Jelly Bucket, Broken Plate, and the Rio Grande Review, among other journals. He has an MFA from Chapman University in Southern California, and currently lives in Massachusetts.
– NEWIES –