3 Poems by Catfish McDaris

The Biggest Joke is Death

exploring nature, red wagons,
animal love, family, China, the
Arabian desert, quiet birds, burning
books, condoms, Bibles, poet hats,
coffins, cowboys, virgins, ghost
snakes, dog tags, and cannibals.

there is even some sex, but never
enough just a toe dip into the river,
shackled by my years, gravity sucking
my energy, the sky and ceilings piss
on my head, the walls yawn in boredom,
nobody laughs at the ugly mirror.


Sahara

Of all that is written I only love what is written blood. Nietzsche

Surrounded by dead guardian angels
listening to: The Mephistopheles of
Los Angeles by Marilyn Manson

Warming hands and face above a hell
fire in a 55-gallon barrel dreaming of
dancing with a senorita in Guadalajara

Palm trees figs and dates in Damascus
driving Thunderbirds through a sequoia
and zebras and swallowtails in the Sahara.


How the West Was Lost

Frogs on the train track
worms in the graveyard
a dog that won’t let go

Cobra living in the turban
a squirt gun of rye and gin
WARNING: take only one hit

Of melt your mind marijuana
Australian, Pitbull, Russian
Ice, and O G Head Cheese.


Bionote

Catfish McDaris won the Thelonius Monk Award in 2015. His 25 years of published material is in the Special Archives Collection at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is from Albuquerque and Milwaukee.