"On Experimental Poets" [by Jim Cummins]

They think they're wags,
but they're really tails.

The Wags of Fear: fantasizing
they carry nitro, but it's

really 'Nite-So' ('night soil,'
a green product developed

by the Self-Importance Movement).
Scorpions--not sorcerers or

'Scorpios'--but actual scorpions.
They're all looking for a Frog

to carry them across the river.
You can find them posing

at poetry readings, whispering,
'Monsieur?  Monsieur?'

-- James Cummins

Note: See The Wages of Fear by Henri-Georges Clouzot (with Yves Montand) and the remake, Sorcerer, by William Friedkin

Comments

[Jerry Williams]

Jim, I love this poem! Have you received any death threats? Boy, are we on the same page. We are on the same shelf in the same used book store that's about to close down because a Border's moved into town to compete with Barnes & Noble and the owner of our used book store just can't take it anymore so he's moving to St. Thomas to go into the dinghy rental business with his half-brother whose wife was the only fatality four years ago in a hurricane and it's good that he's going to St. Thomas because our guy is proud of the fact that he has never had a passport in his entire life and he'll be sixty in August and you can still get to St. Thomas with just a driver's license (which he needs to renew). If you can, give me an e-mail shout at [email protected]. Got a couple things I'd like to discuss with you. No get-rich-quick schemes, I promise. Seriously, great poem. I needed that this morning.