ALAN CATLIN

BALLOONS, DROPPING FROM THE MOUTH

Like the ones Dali made
or the ones by Ernst
made of lead
melting
as wax does when
exposed to a flame
as balloons do
too close
to the sun

helium filled
graf zeppelins
rapturous with fire
Oh, the spectators said
the loved ones

Oh Oh Oh
falling like punctured balloons
from the mouth
of the sun

Oh, the humanity

THE RED UMBRELLAS

All the beach umbrellas
have been folded and

stored away except
for the red ones that

the wind took and raked
against a vermillion sky.

One day they will
return as three ring circus

tent poles people will travel
from miles around to see.

Alan Catlin has two new poetry collections and a book of related short stories out this year. The poetry collections are “Unattended” (Cyberwit) and “Landscapes of the Exiled” (Dos Madres). The short stories are all set in bars and are told from the point of view of a world weary, cynical bartender with a strange sense of humor, “The Naked City” (Anxiety Publications).