{"id":4419,"date":"2023-03-17T12:27:36","date_gmt":"2023-03-17T19:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/?p=4419"},"modified":"2024-12-06T09:32:51","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T17:32:51","slug":"two-poems-by-austin-lagrone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/two-poems-by-austin-lagrone\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Poems by Austin LaGrone"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"issue69\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Found in\u00a0Willow Springs 69<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to Author Profile<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Two Poems by Austin LaGrone<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Tableau with Rockets Redglare<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At home with Wild Turkey, I hear<\/p>\n\n\n\n

someone yell Piss yellow gypsy<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

cab colored moon!<\/em> and, looking<\/p>\n\n\n\n

out the window, notice<\/p>\n\n\n\n

that it is orange and full<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and competing for the sky<\/p>\n\n\n\n

where the Pussycat’s marquee<\/p>\n\n\n\n

reads Girls-Girls<\/em>…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and then just failed light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are days meant for loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others, for holding on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Either way, I understand permanence<\/p>\n\n\n\n

by placing things inside my mouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, like the nickel on the needle<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of the record player<\/p>\n\n\n\n

or the Eldorado double-parked,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ticketed and towed, I feel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the usual rhythm of life<\/p>\n\n\n\n

repeating. My ex-wife<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sleeps with the television on,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

says the flickering light<\/p>\n\n\n\n

scares away the roaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We make love on Thursday<\/p>\n\n\n\n

as though we are still married.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is comforting and endless,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and afterwards we play ‘Deluxe’ Othello<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and watch Down by Law<\/em> with the volume<\/p>\n\n\n\n

down. The Newton’s Roach and Flea Powder<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I sprinkle on the floor makes little difference;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

week after week they return<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to an understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreseeable<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linger for a moment and trust<\/p>\n\n\n\n

your cigarette. Hasn’t its ritual<\/p>\n\n\n\n

kept you sacred, through cheap<\/p>\n\n\n\n

wine and that tall brunette<\/p>\n\n\n\n

down at the Dollar General?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

–Forget what she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You won’t live long enough to need<\/p>\n\n\n\n

one of those terrible voice boxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides, isn’t out of smokes<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

a kind of silence? When I tap<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ash from the balcony on Royal<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and Orleans I’m saying, I will<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

always be keen on young breasts.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You’ve probably said something similar<\/p>\n\n\n\n

turning the cherry against the lip<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of the curb, or in the bed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of a shell, or along the tongue<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of your shoe. And you’ve said more<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with less. I can see dark breath<\/p>\n\n\n\n

rising as though you’re looking<\/p>\n\n\n\n

for answers. That slow exhale<\/p>\n\n\n\n

portends the full scope of your live-to-ride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t need need the tarot, or a bloody yolk,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

or even Yeats to see your Hierophant<\/p>\n\n\n\n

eating bad oysters with sticky fingers.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":25234,"featured_media":680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpo365_audiences":[],"wpo365_private":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4419"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25234"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4419"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37468,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4419\/revisions\/37468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}