Poem of the Day: The Maigre Crash-Land in Houston Just Before August

2014-0728

The Maigre Crash-Land in Houston Just Before August

They said they were aliens

and they had come seeking meat, but now
must find a front porch to shelter from the heat.

It was Houston, just before August,

that time of years when stepping outside
is akin to putting your face into a bakery oven.

The aliens told me they would only stay an hour,

then they must be on their way,
they pulled pocket watches from their vest pockets.

Their mouths were curled downward

like cartoon upside-down smiles,
they were tawny-skinned and sullen-eyed.

They looked as though they needed meat.

They were so thin only a French word could
truly describe them.  “Maigre” is that word.

So that is what I called them.   The Maigre.

They came to the world to find meat, but
they set down in the right state, but wrong town

at the worst time of year.

The Maigre asked me, “How the hell do you stand this?

Heat like this must completely cook your brains!”

“ Yes,” I said, pulling out my skewer and tongs,
“But it brings me such lovely conversations with
the hallucinations that are you.”





MR