Come out for The Independent Chicago Songwriter's Festival
June 23-26 2013
I'm performing Wed 6/28 at Jerry's 1938 W. Division Chicago IL
Music at 9:00 P.M.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Friday, July 01, 2011
Alligator Stew
The latest issue of "Alligator Stew" is out and this time, there is a new wrinkle. All proceeds will benefit Gozo's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
10 postcards from 10 poets, each featuring an original illustration.
What and where is Gozo you ask ?
Well, let me
Mr. Lally was kind enough to feature me in the debut issue of Alligator Stew and I'm honored to be featured this time around as well.
For the sake of the animals in need on Gozo, please consider making a purchase or a direct donation to http://www.spca-gozo.org/
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Chapbook Published
The good folks at Chance Press (Justine and Jordan) have just published a small book of my poems. It is titled "I Am The Circus" and contains some works that were originally posted here on SSP. Since I'm no good at describing my own work, I'll let them do it for you HERE. (Just scroll about halfway down the page)
They have previously done some terrific work with poet Stephen Hines, painter Carol Es and many others, so I am really flattered to be a part of the CP catalog.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
PAUSE
three shots
two close
and one more distant
a moment later
cracking the night wide open
to freeze the neighborhood
in it's place for a bit
until we decided it was
safe to hit the mute button again
and carry on
yes
somehow we carried on.
(c)2011DaveDonovan
two close
and one more distant
a moment later
cracking the night wide open
to freeze the neighborhood
in it's place for a bit
until we decided it was
safe to hit the mute button again
and carry on
yes
somehow we carried on.
(c)2011DaveDonovan
STATE PARKS
state parks are for picnics
and summer vacations
spring weekend drives and
autumn walks
through red-yellow
cathedrals of oak and
soft maple sailing down
curled and crisp prayers
to the hard ground below
state parks are for frisbee and
softball and toss and fetch with your dog
watching the sky change
from morning through night and
state parks are for
fireflies and meteor showers
the fireworks under a black sky
on the back bumper of a station wagon
with a six-pack on the ground
behind the rear tire in case the cops come by
and state parks are for
history
bronze plaques
antique cabins
the wagon wheel of memory
state parks are for
the ashes of those
who walk and wonder in eternity
every season
then
and
now.
(c)2011DaveDonovan
and summer vacations
spring weekend drives and
autumn walks
through red-yellow
cathedrals of oak and
soft maple sailing down
curled and crisp prayers
to the hard ground below
state parks are for frisbee and
softball and toss and fetch with your dog
watching the sky change
from morning through night and
state parks are for
fireflies and meteor showers
the fireworks under a black sky
on the back bumper of a station wagon
with a six-pack on the ground
behind the rear tire in case the cops come by
and state parks are for
history
bronze plaques
antique cabins
the wagon wheel of memory
state parks are for
the ashes of those
who walk and wonder in eternity
every season
then
and
now.
(c)2011DaveDonovan
Saturday, October 02, 2010
New Poems...old attitudes...exotic recipes...weird fables... whatever...
Well at long last the interweb psy-ops project against MY SKULL has successfully concluded and that's as good an excuse as any for a run-on sentence and a couple of new poems....
(In other words, my internet connection has finally been restored)
(In other words, my internet connection has finally been restored)
1995
i remember
more carnicerias
than grocery stores
more banda in the carnicerias
than lite-fm
more graffiti
than chamber of commerce banners
more pick-up trucks
than SUV's
more juanitas
than ashleys
more punk rock flyers
than Reader boxes
and the more i think about it
the less i want to remember.
more carnicerias
than grocery stores
more banda in the carnicerias
than lite-fm
more graffiti
than chamber of commerce banners
more pick-up trucks
than SUV's
more juanitas
than ashleys
more punk rock flyers
than Reader boxes
and the more i think about it
the less i want to remember.
TRAFFIC LIGHTS
i saw her yesterday
down the sidewalk in
a faded green sweater
laughing with a boy
holding coffee-to-go
the traffic
back-lit the evening at 5:45
and i remembered that
this was exactly how it was
supposed to happen
to say it all
as the city passes by
and people fold papers
and send texts
and adjust earbuds
...she waved with her hands
and he nodded yes yes yes and
she leaned in and he threw back
a ferocious laugh...
without effort
or pity or even
having to cross the street.
down the sidewalk in
a faded green sweater
laughing with a boy
holding coffee-to-go
the traffic
back-lit the evening at 5:45
and i remembered that
this was exactly how it was
supposed to happen
to say it all
as the city passes by
and people fold papers
and send texts
and adjust earbuds
...she waved with her hands
and he nodded yes yes yes and
she leaned in and he threw back
a ferocious laugh...
without effort
or pity or even
having to cross the street.
Saturday, March 06, 2010
TWO-WAY STOP
i love to kiss her
my lesbian friend
when saying hello
or goodbye
i never go for the lips
or even the cheek
i dive
for the base of the neck
where that collarbone
scoops out
a lovely depression
where the heart lung and nerve
trade pulses
like the smoothest freeway
exchange you ever saw
and my mouth
searches
for that cellular dividing line
that changes traffic forever
turning her one way and me another
and i wonder where it is
where that answer is buried
in science
in childhood
or under my kiss
beneath her lovely depression
but that doesn't matter
doesn't matter at all
and neither do I.
my lesbian friend
when saying hello
or goodbye
i never go for the lips
or even the cheek
i dive
for the base of the neck
where that collarbone
scoops out
a lovely depression
where the heart lung and nerve
trade pulses
like the smoothest freeway
exchange you ever saw
and my mouth
searches
for that cellular dividing line
that changes traffic forever
turning her one way and me another
and i wonder where it is
where that answer is buried
in science
in childhood
or under my kiss
beneath her lovely depression
but that doesn't matter
doesn't matter at all
and neither do I.
NIGHT PASSAGE
riding the highway
at night
on a bus
half-a-dozen
of us travellers
scattered
in the forty-two seats
dozing
or chatting
maybe reading
or just staring
at the inside
of our own skulls
i like the distance
between the towns
stretches of field
and pasture
without light
only
the distant treeline
against
the faint sky
and once in a while
a tiny dot
or two
of warm yellow
from
the farmhouse windows
who have night passengers
of their own
to comfort.
at night
on a bus
half-a-dozen
of us travellers
scattered
in the forty-two seats
dozing
or chatting
maybe reading
or just staring
at the inside
of our own skulls
i like the distance
between the towns
stretches of field
and pasture
without light
only
the distant treeline
against
the faint sky
and once in a while
a tiny dot
or two
of warm yellow
from
the farmhouse windows
who have night passengers
of their own
to comfort.
Friday, January 29, 2010
A Perfect Day For Love And Squalor
Heading west on US 150 through my hometown/Thursday night/after a trip to the movies by myself/Up In The Air /which was how I had left her 7300 weeknights ago/and realizing that going west on US 150 is absolutely the wrong thing to do
and that's when you have to reverse everything/into a new painful extraordinary heartbreaking course with no co-pilot/or anything like perfectly reasonable thoughts about nights like Thursday nights
and turning around to drive back home
the radio shot me in the heart
he was dead at the age of 91
and I realized a night at the movies without her
even 20 years later hurts like hell
and the only cure is more pain
like hearing that the hero who quit publishing
had finally stopped writing.
[God rest you, Jerome David Salinger - you gave me the older brother I never had (Seymour) and even the goddam Catholic schools will be teaching you 100 years from now]
and that's when you have to reverse everything/into a new painful extraordinary heartbreaking course with no co-pilot/or anything like perfectly reasonable thoughts about nights like Thursday nights
and turning around to drive back home
the radio shot me in the heart
he was dead at the age of 91
and I realized a night at the movies without her
even 20 years later hurts like hell
and the only cure is more pain
like hearing that the hero who quit publishing
had finally stopped writing.
[God rest you, Jerome David Salinger - you gave me the older brother I never had (Seymour) and even the goddam Catholic schools will be teaching you 100 years from now]
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