John Dorsey

Blueberry Pancakes in a Kansas City Blizzard
for bill gainer

your hands numb
by the time the coffee arrives
you think of it
like an old friend
who taught you to drive
through orange groves
& under dying jacaranda trees

someone orders
the last plate
of blueberry pancakes
you had been
dreaming about
all day

so you get
the gooseberry pie
& two fried eggs
cursing them
under your breath
& look out the window
for anything that looks familiar
but nobody is coming
to this side of town
to save you
from yourself

the ice melting in your beard
has made you invisible
to everyone
but frowning waitresses
who will forget you
were ever here
within a few minutes at most
your hands
will turn cold.

 

Kevin

waits to win
styx tickets
on the radio
like an
aging white mystic
of the working class
of bridges
& rivers
& dignity
long forgotten
all of the things
that crumble
given enough time
standing in
the tim horton’s parking lot
all of the irony
gone out
of his voice.

 

The Youngest One in the Room

finding the right words
has become tough
not quite punk rock
all of the anger
& none of the energy
the girls wear $200 shoes
the songs are weak
& the poems are boring
we clap for everything
nobody raises their fist
while auditioning
for the dead.

 

John Dorsey is the former Poet Laureate of Belle, MO. He is the author of several collections of poetry, including Which Way to the River: Selected Poems: 2016-2020 (OAC Books, 2020), Sundown at the Redneck Carnival, (Spartan Press, 2022, Pocatello Wildflower, (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2023) and Dead Photographs, (Stubborn Mule Press, 2024). He may be reached at archerevans@yahoo.com.