three poems (2017)

After The Game, 16 November 1978

leggy and long-haired,
the boys hi-fived thru
the entire ride. Peeled

thighs from vinyl for fast
action recaps of every shot,
steal, block, and breakaway

while coaches dozed like death
but didn’t let up the next day
except lunch: chicken, rice,

an orange apiece for each
hero, hotshot, and every play
to make it to the big time.

Bucket Brigade, 6 March 1978

The aluminum passes
hand to hand along a
row. Automata wrap-
ped in rinds thin over
biceps, rheumatic will
& digits. Equatorial sun
extracts salt & feeds the
bodies’ water to plants
like milk’s command to
maturity: boiled fried or
mashed mound a victory
on each night’s plate.

Harvesting Taro, 31 March 1978

Our hands dodge friendly mischievous
monkeys & mosquitoes to coax poison
to vaccine. Toxic when raw, itchy if un-
dercooked, brings malaria, dengue, and
yellow fever to yield. Your colorful cost-
ume: sweet nutty flavor when boiled or
mashed or stewed. Virgin diamonds cut-
ting flesh like cauterizing tissue; turned
cold before it realizes its wound.

(Poet darlene anita scott is a regular contributor to the jonestown report. Her complete collection of writings and poetry for this site may be found here. She can be reached at darleneanitascott@gmail.com.)