QUICK DRAW

I watch as she dances
along the fault line of my poem,
never intent to make the earth quake
or make the ride uncomfortable, some
see a storm in a few drops of rain.

Others will receive your affection, then
act as if you’ve given them the plague.

Should have told her, words
are bullets when poems become guns.
Don’t pull a pen on me unless you intend
to write with it;
if you do write, then you better write to kill.

And don’t get fancy with your language
and show off linguistic tricks.

I’m not impressed with
enigmatic enumerations, and
the double standards you impose.
One moment challenger, the next
playing victim.

Outlaw turned gentleman, I am
or is it the other way around?
Perhaps both, on any given day
especially if you set the mood.

I’ve buried my guns in the ground.

Now, I carry a concealed poem
all over town;
locked, loaded and lethal, my words are aimed at you.

Just don’t make me use it.

I was born across the bridge from Boston, Massachusetts, in Cambridge, as July 4th fireworks exploded over the Charles River, just a stone’s throw from Harvard University. At age two, my family moved to Somerville, Ma.,where I was raised in a rough blue-collar environment, playing many sports. In 1998 I relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada. Here, I work among special needs children and teach martial arts. Poetry began in high school, but took off in a more dedicated way in later years, along with resuming music studies, guitar. My poems are published in various anthologies; including Impressions, Prism, and the Mighty Voices Of Thunder Series, sponsored by the international poetry website, “Allpoetry.” I was a featured poet in Lyrical Somerville February 2015, a Boston based publication, as well as being an “Editor’s Front Page Pick,” for the month of March 2016 on Allpoetry. A defining moment that contributed significantly to further interest in writing was a First Place Award from the International Poetry Fellowship, for my poem, “Among Fields of Cotton.” Presently, I am happy to have the opportunity to explore various forms of poetry with Mr. Bruce Isaacson, Poet Laureate of Clark County Nevada.