night shift


.   now that was a left-brained

arachnid / deluding destiny / avoiding

undercover narrative   loud /

nasty styles have distressed

evaluators who've networked /

incorporated / if not recapitulated   the

audible poem was superb / in fact

diamonded / fighting back / crypted / quite

marvelously lettered in fists   we've

all suspected public display but

have kissed the prophet's ring   .




spout


.   who could pay for a

flung bed with no restraint /

a clairvoyant comeback

book upsetting jukebox

process   successive remorse

quelling first lady's fry

craze   what would be

the film on top of her /

a cautious sot chanting / inciting

empty goblets   jibing / hosting

clarity   brother marks

the spring we hear   .




craft madame


.   small-hole abandonment

requires surprising planning   verges

on whirling   defines a purpose for

chewing and a weather

for nervous tics   they listen out /

begin to suspect they may

have clever rhythm   before long

the vomiting of religious goals

and other ingredients / the aping

of unsavory edges / the brute

yet loving crippled horse   .




paddy whack



.   haunting reminder of churchgoing

enviro / sheared letters /

ruinous love-taxis piled up

in reverse   the most plodding

nexus they had ever seen /

bra so blasted / so predictable /

did yeoman service as a

wine rack   consequently majoring

in frenetic trigonometry was nearly

painless / given that the Stoics

and the Thomists had gone

to triple overtime   .

Joel Chace has published poetry and prose poetry in print and electronic magazines such as 6ix, Tomorrow, Lost and Found Times, Coracle, xStream, Three Candles, 2River View, Joey & the Black Boots, Recursive Angel, and Veer.  He has published more than a dozen print and electronic collections.  Forthcoming from BlazeVox Books is CLEANING THE MIRROR:  NEW AND SELECTED POEMS, and from
Paper Kite Press, MATTER NO MATTER.  He is a NEH Fellow.  For
many years, Chace has been Poetry Editor for the experimental
electronic magazine 5_Trope.