Kelly Bartolotta
2 Poems
breaking big sky
slick curves banking around
the cool misted edges
of montana sunbreaksthe reservation, sixty miles
of crow indian land,
no utilities, no servicesa shambled gas station, thirty in
wrought-iron door, puddled mud
my foot caked, my shoe lostthe men in the back
playing something to murder the minutes
before the day’s full impact begins
shoot us a look
while our eyes google at the prospectsbut the cashier,
clad in laguna beach sweater,
nail beds collecting dirt
knows we’re tourists
hands us our change
four post-cardslaughs with the men
mocking our foreign accents
ruraled urban melody: in two parts
I.
dried o of a honeyed mouth
in looped lettering motions
swerved unreasondripped quarter note half note
plagued melancholy &
strung surface, glossed
a silhouetted strangermidnight wrens swell
melted skylines – blushed browns
pricked thimbles
sliced sails, belabored bayscarmelstick finger attachment
to an unknown
knocking brassy chimes
cheap boxed wines
lingering inebriationsII.
breadcrumbs:
shoelaces / retreats
busted rails
&
rusty nailsreflections inside(out)
mellowed goldfish bowl glow
beckons like an autumn’s hymnlucid
lucrative mechanics
scattered glass like broken bones
embers etched
elements persistenta neon bow
her hydrogen dances
mahoganyspringtime elegies
only the narcissus navigates