THE USELESS TELEPHONE
POEMS WROTE DURING JUNE, 2002, NO. 6
I met a girl who can imitate
The cry of a peacock.
Her imitation was excellent.
I fell in love with this girl
Who can imitate the cry of a peacock.
I had lived most of my life
Among people who hated the cry of a peacock.
My in-laws hated the cry of a peacock.
All my blood relatives hated the cry of a peacock.
The few friends I had hated the cry of a peacock.
I loved the cry of a peacock,
So I wasted most of my life
Among people who hated the cry of a peacock,
But now I’ve found a girl
Who loves the cry of a peacock.
I fell deeply in love with this girl
Who can imitate the cry of a peacock.
Then one Sunday she lost her keys
To her BMW, went into a rage,
Shouted, “I want to tell you the truth,
I hate the cry of a peacock.”
POEMS WROTE DURING JUNE, 2002, NO 7
Columns were red,
The roof, yellow,
But all the people
Under the roof
Were melancholy.
The columns repainted gray,
The roof black,
But all the people
Under the roof
Were still melancholy.
The building was wrecked
During a storm.
The people sat out in the open
During the storm.
All the people were happy.
POEMS WROTE DURING JUNE, 2002, NO. 8
Everything was turning
Into vegetation,
The telephone poles into pines,
The houses into maples.
People were turned into weeds,
The weeds the people walked by everyday
And never saw.
The people as weeds
Looked into mirrors,
Were pleased with what they saw,
The sight make the people forget
The miseries of their former lives.
POEMS WROTE DURING JUNE, 2002, NO. 9
I watch the words
I write change
Their clothes.
The words I wrote
Say
They do not know me.
I look at my words.
They are strangers.
I don’t
Recognize their faces.
POEMS WROTE DURING JUNE, 2002, NO 10
The gulf
Brings from the distance,
Gold twists of sea weed.
The sea weed, her hair.
The gulf
Brings from the distance,
Pale blue stones.
The stones, her eyes.
The gulf
Brings from the distance,
Coral.
The coral, her lips.
The gulf forms her face
On the damp sand
Near the shore line.
The gulf disturbed by shore winds
Blowing from between houses,
Heaves, washes away her face.
Alley Photo's
click for larger view
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 Duane Locke
2716 Jefferson Street
Tampa, FL 33602-16200
| Announcing: THREE NEW BOOKS OF POEMS By Duane Locke
[Duane Locke has renounced print publication to publish electronically. Duane Locke has over 4,000 poems published, over 2,000 in print publications, American Poetry Review, etc. and since September 1999, over 2,000 in e zines.]
1. Published in February, 2OO2, E book:
THE SQUID'S BLACK INK,
Published by Ze books (the publisher of poetry
For only 69 cents per book)
Contact: http.//www.blquanbeck.com.zebooks. Inquire:
NOVLNymph@aol.com or Ward708@aol.com
2. Published in February, 2002, E Book:
FROM A TINY ROOM,
Published in Spain by OTO' S E-BOOKS, http.//atotos.gksdesign.com/ebooks/locke or http://atotos.gksdesign.com/ebooks/buy1.htm or
http://www.atotos-ebooks.com
Inquire: guiam@wols.es.
Price: 5.60 Euros.
3, Forthcoming in April, 2002, E book:
THE DEATH OF DAPHNE,
Contains 50 poems never published before. To be published by 4*9*1, URL: 491.20m.com. Inquire: Stompdcr@aol.com Price $5.
Order the above through the internet.
[Duane Locke's 14th print book is still in print, WATCHING WISTERIA. Order from Vida Publishing via iod@ironoverload.org. Or order from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and many others. Paperback, $9.95; Hardcover, $19.95]
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[BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE: Duane Locke, Doctor of Philosophy in English Renaissance literature, Professor Emeritus of the Humanities, was Poet in Residence at the University of Tampa for over 20 years. Has had over 2,000 of his own poems published in over 500 print magazines such as American Poetry Review, Nation, Literary Quarterly, Black Moon, and Bitter Oleander. Is author of 14 print books of poems, the latest is WATCHING WISTERIA ( to order write Vida Publishing, P.O. Box 12665, Lake, Park, FL. 33405-0665, or Amazon or Barnes and Noble). Since September 1999, he became a cyber poet and started submitting on-line, and since September 1999 he has added to his over 2,000 print acceptances with 1,195 acceptances by e zines.
He is also a painter. Now has exhibitions at Thomas Center Galleries (Gainesville, FL) and Tyson Trading Company (Micanopy, FL) Recently a one-man show at Pyramid Galleries (Tampa, FL)
Also, a photographer, has had 116 of his photos selected for appearance on e zines. He photographs trash in alleys. Moves in close to find beauty in what people have thrown away.
He now lives alone in a two-story decaying house in the sunny Tampa slums. He lives isolated and estranged as an alien, not understanding the customs, the costumes, the language (some form of postmodern English) of his neighbors. The egregious ugliness of his neighborhood has recently been mitigated by the esthetic efforts of the police force who put bright orange and yellow posters on the posts to advertise the location is a shopping mall for drugs. His alley is the dumping ground for stolen cars. One advantage
Of living in this neighborhood, if your car is stolen, you can step out in the back and pick it up. Also, the burglars are afraid to come in on account of the muggers.
His recreational activities are drinking wine, listening to old operas, and reading postmodern philosophy.
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