John Dorsey

WATCHING MIAMI VICE ALONE ON CHRISTMAS MORNING
IN A MISSOURI GARAGE

you mostly watch for the clothes
& the excessive use of hair gel
you imagine girls on roller skates
snorting pure peruvian flake
off of don johnson’s sweet oily scalp
in the neverending sunshine
here it’s so dark outside
that you dream
that you can live
in 1985 forever
you almost don’t want to get up
to go to the bathroom
so you keep going back
to the opening credits
the music fills your heart
you think jan hammer was the god of war
for a simpler time
& are just grateful
that for a moment
miguel pinero got to leave
the lower east side

you read somewhere
that crockett & tubbs are waiting for godot
on a speedboat
in the florida swamp

it’s a sting

that snaps you back
to reality

where tomorrow you will get up
& things will not
be so easy.

SEPTEMBER POEM
_{for d.r. wagner}

your hat tilted in the sun
later inside surrounded by books
chicken noodle soup & good conversation
we laughed so much
your face turned crimson
like a joyful red rose
when the night
finally bloomed.

VICTOR & JASON

talk about haiku on my couch
at one in the morning
& i think to myself
i bet the masters never imagined
two middle aged men
drinking cheap white wine
in a garage in missouri
could give syllable count
so much thought
words hanging there
each gulp
a defense of form
the wind howling
erasing a dog’s paw prints
from the melting snow
in a dark sky
that makes you
think of cherry blossoms.

John Dorsey is the former Poet Laureate of Belle, MO. He is the author of several collections of poetry, including Which Way to the River: Selected Poems: 2016-2020 (OAC Books, 2020), Sundown at the Redneck Carnival, (Spartan Press, 2022, and Pocatello Wildflower, (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2023). He may be reached at archerevans@yahoo.com.