May 13th, 2010 - Collin Berry

from my mother's porch

rubber band still

around the wind

chimes

I’m smoking

by the light of wayward smarts

and by the light

of karmic bells

Miles Davis is still in the lead

so many folks

at home these days

trying silence as remedy

for responsibility’s wound

so many bodies

responding to combinations

of sweet words on the television

my memory of that time

is a picnic

quilted blanket red and wind

through infant trees

no, I was taking my first

manic drive on a back road

no, I was using the rain

to delete my voice

no, it was one

of many blackouts after binge

perhaps

I was on my mother’s porch

I had no job

except to speak to the stone

yard and give

the rocker a little

shove

and listen to it sing

---

Collin Berry is currently an MFA candidate in poetry at Vermont College of Fine Arts. He resides in St. Louis. He encourages you to check out the charity BlinkNow.