Poetry: Selections from John Yamrus

for Tony it was

 

all 60s music...

Archie Bell And The Drells...

 

The Stones...

 

Smokey...

 

that 

was all he 

needed to get right.  

 

that, and 

his little dog Tail.  

 

Tail 

didn’t have any.  

He also didn’t have a back leg.   

 

Tony 

didn’t care.  

Neither did Tail.  

 

And they’d 

sit out back, and 

listen to music and drink beer.

 

Tail 

did, too.  

he’d get a 

splash in his bowl 

a couple times a day and 

loved it just as much as Tony did.  

 

For 

Tail and Tony 

it never got any better than that.  

 

It didn’t have to.

 

 

 

so, he says:

 

all you 

had to do 

was take one 

look in his eyes 

 

and 

you knew 

what the problem was; 

 

he 

was living 

way too close to the bone, 

 

and 

it kept 

him up at night. 

 

he knew 

he couldn’t hack it, 

but, what the hell...right?  

 

so, i said 

what happened next?  

 

and 

he looks 

at me and says: 

 

fuck me 

if i’m ever 

tellin’ anyone 

as stupid lookin’ as you!

 

 

 

her breath

 

was like 

dead snakes 

kept too long in a jar.  

 

but 

that wasn’t 

the worst of it.  

 

if she 

had her way, 

she’d take all she could get 

 

and 

have you 

out the door 

before you even 

had a taste of anything 

even close to being sweet.

 

 

 

 

 

John Yamrus has been a working writer for over 50 years, publishing 35 books, including 29 poetry collections, 2 novels, and 3 volumes of non-fiction. His work has appeared in nearly 3,000 magazines and anthologies worldwide. Recently, The Street and Present Tense were released by Anxiety Press.