Issue #22.7 Two Poems by John Dorsey

Imagine You’re a Sunflower

3 months after cancer nearly swallowed you whole people want you to say things are great that the sun shines out of your ass just so they don’t have to feel guilty  about not calling or visiting so they don’t have to think  about themselves  living in fear like you but all you can smell  is blood on the water closing your remaining good eye & gently running your fingers  along moby dick’s billowing spine so you imagine you’re a sunflower in front of your grandmother’s house  years after she last called you in  out of the rain wild & silent  & free.

The Year I Was Born

linda ronstadt was a goddess floating across a dark stage a warm smile with eternal youth i dream about her now gliding on roller skates at studio 54 with andy warhol & truman capote each of them fighting  to be the one to place a flower  in her hair.

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John Dorsey is the former poet laureate of Belle, Missouri and the author of Pocatello Wildflower. He may be reached at archerevans@yahoo.com.

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