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Three poems by Ken Pobo

Kenneth Pobo

Long Beach, Washington boardwalk / d. enck
Long Beach, Washington boardwalk / credit: d.e.

Before I Came Out

Pastor Clack fitted me
for a roomy chastity belt,
so big that it held our church,

my school and neighborhood.
This belt hurt when I tried
to move. One day,

near the end of junior year,
it just popped off. I left it
on the tar and walked home.

The warm sun delightfully
lavender, the moon
wearing a white jump suit.

Wedding License

At the courthouse I learn
we’ll need 60 bucks.
Love works 9-5 too.
The form asks
no relevant questions,
like what songs will we play
that day? We’ll stand in

“the halls of justice”
that echo from the ghosts
of murdered gay people.

Colonial House Laundromat, St. Germain, Wisconsin

Front loaders look at me
like I’m the Dalai Lama
and I have enough wisdom
to start the machine for nothing.
Dryers with Dante-in-Hell mouths,
let me hear pop tunes of buttons
and buckles hitting with each spin.
Even magazines where
the crossword puzzle is finished,
page 37 missing, I sneak them home.
Magazines rarely smell of detergent
as they do here. I’m Blanche DuBois

in a rinse cycle’s magic. Everyday
miracles clatter down from
a beige change machine.

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Kenneth Pobo

Kenneth Pobo's recent poetry collections include a book of prose poems, The Antlantis Hit Parade (Clare Songbirds Publishing House); Dindi Expecting Snow (Duck Lake Books), and Bend Of Quiet (Blue Light Press). A chapbook, Your Place Or Mine, is forthcoming from the Poetry Society of Alabama. His work has appeared in: Floating Bridge, Indiana Review, Mudfish, Nimrod, and elsewhere. He can be found on Twitter at @KenPobo.

Author: Kenneth Pobo Tags: poetry Category: Poetry January 25, 2019

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Comments

  1. Tom Blessing says

    February 1, 2019 at 9:47 am

    Ken always good to read your work. These are no exception.

    Reply

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R.I.P. Michael McClure 1932-2020

Empty Mirror

Established in 2000 and edited by Denise Enck, Empty Mirror is an online literary magazine that publishes new work each Friday.

Each week EM features several poems each by one or two poets; reviews; critical essays; visual art; and personal essays.

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