PURITANS

Don’t at me
But it was you

Says I who was the
At’s originator

At the beheading
Your wedding

In the meadow where
Columbine blossoms

Pulse purple words
At one another

And letters flutter
On a mirror like flies

As we order our nectars
Let it be said I

Hellishly did
Adore this web

Not the arachnid
Who weaponized it

DOGS AND WORMS

Rain makes everyone act like dogs.

From certain angles
One cheek serves as shelter
For the other.

A dripping face
Like a turn of phrase.

The raindrop that speeds
Diagonally down
A dyspeptic cloud
To strike your cheek, has it
Too turned?

Rain makes a dog
Act like a worm
Who holds no
Part of himself
In check.

A worm who is totally out of control.

DANTE

Day is always somewhere else
But night is here
A rash passed between the planets

Flaring up again
Banishing me from my vocabulary
Mine was a tongue

Moonlight once drooped off
Like cellulite, but now it’s ripped
I recall that light’s heft 

Fondly, coterminous
With the fat of my mind
When my guide clapped

His hands over my eyes
To protect me from the witch’s
Visage, he missed my mouth

A pleasure to be held
By one who sweats protection
Seen by one who wishes horror

On my articulate particles
Speaking directly
To the raw dog of the air

Daniel Poppick is the author of a novel, The Copywriter, and two books of poetry, Fear of Description and The Police.