Palming the Forehead


the quick lunch
gulping a coconut
flavored la croix
to wash down bar-b-q
pork skins

the snapshots of the grey-beard head
developer negative plate and red light
i can't shake a memory

shot through with shape and flesh-tone color
my chest-beating breathing
rapid eye movement
round smooth wet flickering

my forehead movie-screen
of the casting for ziegfeld frolics
running up and down the state route 66 curves
but the theater is closed
no filmed all-nighters for years

behind closed doors
the tragedy masks replaced by cloth
the projector room
lens is cracked covered with a dusty sheet
just crickets

and an asian stink bug
by the sink
this morning
in my denture cup











4.7 10/10

© Brian Peter Hodgkinson