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Lawrence Jones' short fiction and poetry has been published in a number
of lit mags and antholgized in "The XY Files, Poems on the Male Experience"
He currently has work in RHINO. Jones edits a new on-line magazine, Avatar
Review. He lives in Des Moines with a Madonna and his two daughters. Jones
attempts in his work to discover the difference between poetry and
professional wrestling and fails.
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A True Tale Regarding
the Disappearance of a Serious Poet:
Long after Elmo's closed and the boys headed
home to their women or someone else's woman,
Iambe inflates like a hot air balloon.
I watch it happen from the confessional in Diana's
All Night Bookstore. Diana sits with her crossbow
on the counter, polishing a bolt.
Iambe stands eyeing the stuffed heads on the wall.
Seen dad? she asks. You smell like a goat.
That's sushi, Diana replies.
Sushi my ass, says Iambe. I see she's a snoot-full
spoiling for a fight, action of some kind anyway.
No, it's true. A serious Poet,
in the Serious Poetry stack, brought the fish.
You can have the Poet if you want; he's new in town,
Diana says. Iambe saunters, sways her hips
and pulls her halter top over her head. Trouble,
I think and continue reading "Life Studies." Soon the serious
Poet--who's dresses the way serious Poets do,
Sherlock Holmes sans the silly cap and calabash--
is on the couch in the corner. I lean out
of the confessional to see what happens next.
Iambe straddles the guy. She's talking Ovid, Sappho.
Her hands fly. The serious Poet wheezes,
his eyes are the eyes of the heads on the wall.
Diana takes aim with her bow, hits a rhino
with a bolt through its horn. She smiles. "Thrilling fire
through all my flesh doth run," coos Iambe enveloping
the serious Poet. She grows larger with each breath.
I can't see anything but cheek. Things are getting serious.
I pick up "Colossus." I look again, no sign of the Poet,
only Iambe, petite, lithe, as always. You snatched him,
Diana says. Yes, says Iambe, I swallowed
and then spit. He wanted the stars and the moon.
He wanted to come closer. Don't they always?
Lawrence Jones
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The mythical Iambe makes an appearance at a bookstore and
at Le Petit
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