Dave Bonta

 

Occupied

October 17, 2011

As in: pre-.
The windy street-corner sermon,
the row of poplars waving
all their gold cards at once.

As in: otherwise-.
The gray-suited men
vanish like deer into November
the moment they stand still.

As in: certain territories
where the new occupants
must build a wall
to keep out the old.

And the space beside the wall
becomes a place to try one’s luck,
a place to wail.

 

Dave Bonta edits the online magazine qarrtsiluni and has been blogging at Via Negativa since 2003. He's the author of two poetry chapbooks, Odes to Tools and the forthcoming Breakdown: Banjo Poems. His latest publication is a book of satirical cartoons called Words on the Street. Most of his neighbors are trees.