"Desire After the Elms" & "Making the Music Absent"
Making the Music Absent
invisible tattoos linking in the shade
shred homilies more slowly than pine
cluster neon settings fork templates
caught spooning under harvest table
tableaus renewed as voyeur’s fancy
a raincoat parade in flux or element
refining the incident's gruesome retail
while a hedge header blown to nuance
pretexts a lathered quest for interest
profiting mantra tantrums matrix fury
lecturing ampersand vagaries threaten
the panegyrics lurking near their lodge
inking the praises grown and relayed
overcoats thrashing flashlight bottoms
to pictorial door slams filleted to dash
bone entreaties gone viral on platters
display succulent threadbare tissue
wherever their relay enhances spiral
to vector status vetting a prospective
jackal baited with laughing assets
through headgear placenta banners
lovingly starched to bonnet invective
attracting venue crashes to portals
shored in declension or as reclusive
habitats archly rendered in the pines
willowing offshore branches toward
brittle sectors wishing tadpole glamor
predicated fossil pendants on demand
when markets trample breadline force
against leverage carts ostrich hangers
repel with namesake chargers larger
than cheap emporium swills downed
to hammer thrust a clavicle bedding
around the circular rainbow chant
reddening over the deadened paste
filling flagellant mood ring vapors
with deadening bluster gas covered
lids blew their stack spewed smoke
abundant talkers lit cigars before a
noon whistle stop placates chauffeur
bids posing rectangular on visages
bent forward a trusting gesture vents
apoplectic nuance fibers trailing down
compendium vouchers under slippage
ferns applicable to old forum vendors
bent toward their coldest ambitions
ever forward and forewarned to seal
the whirl of a samovar’s red tornado
declaration to purpose and appealing
momentary settings when forks reply
indignant winds scraping oral shores
where slow implosions pound below
fiber sensibilities as fingered people
arrayed according to charted climate
changes colonial pillars incur daily
spectrum fossil inhabits gossip fill
the long hypotenuse deferred past
memory filters protruding in daylight
shadows bring pectoral nostalgia
to brink the cliff before plummeting
futures divest themselves of tense
or syntactical maneuvers to survive
the fury of patronage stamps rising
over cover clamps left unmentioned
to the sea breeze shoring past fog
bands claiming tonality ultimatums
ease the burn before its montage
refills cataleptic seashore lanterns
then angular fragments accrued
longshoremen unwilling to docket
mustard branch saloon doors veil
in place of a transparent surplus
scaling the vestibule where cattle
honed their tonsil razors for gamut
refill gladiators now brimming over
the side entrance below horizontal
displacement vertigo plasters cast
young models in new bandage suits
mottled furrier replacement tissue
gabardine another velcro noun
jabbering wok and fusion cooking
infused with sedimentary passion
monolithic as charted movement
impaired geothermal bracketing
sewing circles of the raised fourth
counting pearls to swine the herd
or treble near the octave’s keening
gavels searing spectrums at play
with the bare peals soon restored
to aching conundrum foils bred
along modal lines no cleft attains
nor fury melted along pot lines
faulted for their quaking gestures
at cyclical barbecue resorts for felons
grabbing the snatch basket weevil
before fixation bears its ugly stamp
of the chlorophyll memory packets
distilled to clear secretion emblems
from prepositional lingering come
to posture like cackling beneficiaries
in produce cockpits bracketed free
haze regimens for spittle recitation
encumbered ladder flights numbering
sequential barriers lacking the bored
remains wheeling the final signage
of the grappling masters hooked
on anchor data slowly shredded
bookmarks the stage from the back
aspect ratio declaimed admixture
truant as a truculent oblong sprocket
tabulating pocket changes on cue
for renewal packets order delayed
no periphery intended or rendered
innocuous snowflakes incendiary
as nylon ergonomic replay vouchers
beating the seat to padded cushion
where armrests crest unholy grails
for watching see-‐through trauma
grappling the hooked from savory
plantain baskets left to chew home
from the wars embroiling the fashion
statements against flashing humanity
jacklight pantries or modem tassels
the locket embraced on sex ordeal
managed promptly by schedule hats
worn softly through the darkness
before the romp imbues a brewing
formality to shake its aching claim
to portable garment plaster attics
a starway to the stairs unclimbed
visible suns in a fortnight posture
relegate dragoon-‐based stalkers
to pigeon climbs beyond the holes
available for blocking taxonomy
threads across their boundaries
platform blood intones to linger
pastry benefits and casualties
grounding all deferential pine fins
sneaking in a prefrontal bender
lobes sparking the electrode voices
grate the leisure delivery serpents
writhing down the phylum line
to genetic surplus retail coding
laid bare as scandal fragments
dissolute didgeridoos in heat
repair placebo rhythms uprooted
patio declaimers turn unaware
from the stale air of grievance
stewed dandy ligaments brown
a pathetic foreboding to break
luggage precursors in stairwell
voids nursing grudge scrotums
a traffic impaled upon thickened
ceremony gravy platoons embed
warlock pantry holdings unglued
seminal recourse button plagues
masterminded buffalo verses
strewn against a lateral wall as tint
haze turned yellow as dismissed
envoy sermons parting secrets
where bevel charts fasten gloats
to the insurgent litigation angles
charting past addenda marches
toward fury under grace and pyre
lavish schedule bandanas chuck
rotisserie dancers an aspiration
a fungal ointment future deferred
composition breeds mushroom data
schedules illicit departure groves
near their ratchet ventilation pimps
groveling fortune to concert tuning
impressionable as any guard rail
against a forearm boss unabashed
along the bruise line’s lingering path
conical when not concealed or used
for storage of the stolen intellectuals
property more borrowed than created
among craftsmen of the human trade
bartering last hope occlusions artfully
imploding permission granite floats
on candle fodder epithets hurtling
past the gloating handlers modeling
their brand a dude ranch on cash bend
where mending dentists find repeal
platelet benders bring vendor binges
renewed concourse grove struggles
peace a product lost to low profit
a loss unloading its victory moats
under the critical headings mounted
over fireplace mantels to gaze darkly
through faces posing empty mirrors
bluffing the hunter’s heart at length
and distance as defensive perception
no safety left unknown however hidden
its strictures the parlor luster clicking
from nodding mobile heads branded
for fracture when causal membranes
accrue loading armor for handles left
untended as an emptied bar stool
raising a clef high to pitch the hurling
dulcimer lines to spread past the lies
that thread melody’s empty background
Vernon Frazer’s most recent books of poetry include T(exto)-V(isual) Poetry and Unsettled Music. Enigmatic Ink has published Frazer’s new novel, Field Reporting. Frazer’s web site is http://www.vernonfrazer.net. Bellicose Warbling, the blog that updates his web page, can be read athttp://bellicosewarbling.blogspot.com/. His work may also be viewed at Scribd.com. In addition to writing poetry and fiction, Frazer also performs his poetry, incorporating text and recitation with animation and musical accompaniment on YouTube. Frazer is married.