Maris Mclamoureary: If Lost, Please Return to Solitary Confinement
CERBÈRE
This dog’s in the wrong
spot, draped in petticoat,
lured in cage; Pluto’s booty
snatched by grey men
with whips & pocketwatches.
Cerbère hears the ticking
of their wan hearts wanting
more but paying the wrong
piper — losers, keepers,
bookmakers & moneylenders
all resplendent on tanning
benches, scorched like
chilis for the three
hungry tongues tamping
bit; horrendously & endlessly
patient & anxious to stand
before a jury of his
(or their) peers, hands
clasped behind back in seeming
penitence. Still he’ll slobber
later as he laps his honey,
a lapse in judgment
hung from his neck like an engraved
Marmaduke medallion: “IF LOST,
PLEASE RETURN TO
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT.” You might
drag him back, but he’s never of one
mind when three heads
collide, & who’s ever really
alone when they can
fight themselves for marrow
in the bone?
Collaborative poem from the chapbook DICTIONNAIRE INFERNAL by Mark Lamoureux & Chris McCreary.
Mark Lamoureux lives in New Haven, CT. He is the author of four full-length collections of poetry: It’ll Never Be Over For Me (Black Radish Books, 2016), 29 Cheeseburgers / 39 Years (Pressed Wafer, 2013), Spectre (Black Radish Books 2010), and Astrometry Orgonon (BlazeVOX Books 2008),. His work has been published in print and online in Elderly, Denver Quarterly, Jacket, Fourteen Hills and many others. In 2014 he received the 2nd annual Ping Pong Poetry award, selected by David Shapiro, for his poem “Summerhenge/Winterhenge.” He teaches at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport, CT. His chapbook, DICTIONNAIRE INFERNAL, co-authored with Chris McCreary, was published by Empty Set Press on Halloween 2017.
Chris McCreary is the author of four books: [neüro / mäntic], undone : a fakebook, Dismembers, and The Effacements. His review of Arrive On Wave, the Collected Poems of Gil Ott, is forthcoming in Tripwire. His chapbook, DICTIONNAIRE INFERNAL, co-authored with Mark Lamoureux, was published by Empty Set Press on Halloween 2017.
