Victor Clevenger

6:30 a.m.

in the distance a symphony of birds break the
silence & welcome the sun’s slow rise     the early
morning sky lacking a salmon-colored shimmer      
stretching for miles obstructing the view of all
the curves sharp or ever so slight     a heavy
sweater of fog draped across a river

stuck—breakfast
in my teeth…a hugo
poem in my head

Maxine

one apartment
higher—still no closer
to god

she’s on that high-speed chicken feed     she doesn’t
make good choices jonathan tells me the morning
after maxine broke into arizona’s apartment & stole
all her books of poetry  

no filter options—
the jailhouse photographer’s
camera

 

Victor Clevenger spends his days in a Madhouse and his nights writing. Selected pieces of his work have appeared in print magazines and journals around the world. He is the author of several collections of poetryand together with American poet John Dorsey, they run River Dog.