September 28, 2003

Numb today. People pass me the way an irritating wind
blows hair into your eyes.
Both bald.

Today, a day where would I but cut off an arm, a leg,
I might actually bleed.

In this town women are men
and men are whores
and whores do better than the lot of us.

A taste of old cloves in the mouth of this street,
Its best attempts stopped cold.
Even this entry written in said street,
devoid of shimmer and finesse,
the clumsy drunk sex of two sold souls.

The text plods with me through the mucky alleys of mute screams.
The ideas themselves are cliches and berets
walking Uptown behind Kerouac smirks at new world's shiny gate-
Win
And when all is lost, what is there?
Beer.
Beer and poetry,
both the holes that always fill me.

Kill or save
die or beg
always the same questions that ask me,

And when to leave the perfect page
blanco
and when to sully such with
some ineffectual jazz

But I'll stop here,
look for strength worthy of ink...

Michael K. Gause, originally from Nashville, currently resides in Minneapolis, MN. His work can be found on the Web and in print. A Google search will pretty much find you everything. Over the years he has created and hosted reading series in the Twin Cities area, as well as performed at same. These days, however, he prefers the solitude of his attic study or cafe corners. His first chapbook of drunken reverie, The Tequila Chronicles, is available at select bookstores in the Twin Cities, as well as from him directly. A review of The Tequila Chronicles can be found at www.poeticinhalation.com/pi_reviews_thetequilachronicles.html.

He is currently at work on his second collection, as well as a local television program centered around art exploration and discussion.

You can email Michael at michaelgause@msn.com.