Pie Out-Moded

 

Pie Out-Moded - sketch by douglas brent smith, from journal #10 cry Wolf (1977)

Note:

Another silly cartoon, drawn with a flair pen in a spiral bound notebook. That is a lot of ice cream.

breaking up

come to me

as the person you know as

the one who will go

softly in silence from you

slowly and close

feel the most we can offer

all of this flesh thru the mess of our parting

there. you see? the magic the warmth

still willingly there

all we have shared

has formed a bond

not to tie us or hold us captive

but to wrap our walk

thru this passage

peacefully gentle

compassionately free.

douglas brent smith

Note:

This is at least the third version of this poem. I'll never get it exactly right, just as I never figured out how to get breaking up exactly right. Much has changed since 1977 when the first bits of this poem appeared, and yet...much remains a mystery -- like the mystery of how does someone fall out of love?

To me it feels the same as if you said you'd decided to stop breathing. How do you do that? 

Little Known Scientific Fallacies

 

Little Known Scientific Fallacies - from journal #10 cry Wolf (1977)

ashes

the only fire that inflames me now

crackles constantly your name

white hot and furious over the ashes

of your unwritten melody

and my unwanted soul

the only air flowing thru me now

tastes bitter and smoky

colored in resins i've never learned

in pigments past understanding

you say i may not see you now

though i still hear you when you sigh

you declare there's no love there

but ashes swept aside.

douglas brent smith

 

silence

i guess the postal service died

no other cause will do

it's been more than a month

since i've heard a word from you

the phone company has gone on strike

or else my phone is broken

it's been too long a time it seems

since your sweet voice has spoken

it could not be dark apathy

or mystery ignoring me

that would not do it's not like you

to leave me so neglected

and somehow soon it must be true

you'll treat me as expected

to sit alone by my dumb phone

reveals a hope gone rotten

and it's much worse to live the curse

of someone who's forgotten.

douglas brent smith

 

napkins and things

dorinda likes to doodle

daringly on napkins

unseen unnoticed by

the scramblers eating eggs

or sipping bitter coffee

sometimes she pops out a song

or sketches a summer scene

from somewhere no one's been

now here i am in Chicago

frozen to the bone

doodling on a napkin

and wishing i was home

but, lacking that i

send a pre-doodled napkin

to someone who appreciates

napkins and things.

douglas brent smith

 

A Safe Bet

 A Safe Bet, sketch by douglas brent smith, from journal #10 cry Wolf (1977).

I was not much of a cartoonist, but that didn't stop me from occasionally trying. The joke here is basic and obvious and probably just came out of idle doodling.