deep cleveland - featured poets & artists

featured poets & artists

devin wayne davis

devin wayne davis, known also by his pen name "townee," lives in and works for the state of california. he has been published in the sacramento anthology: 100 Poems, sanskrit, the locust magazine, kota press, dwan, pierian springs, perihelion, and pig iron malt.

polaris

from a nightshirt

--the sun rises

over meadowview--

this sheriff

is checking ...

if they have id;

if they rode legally;

if they have a problem

with authority--

whether they have chips;

perhaps, planting an informant in ranks;

training poor kids

to routinely submit;

hunting guns,

knives, the bomb, wmds,

a look;

blocking them,

using his crossing guard forearm

as a gate--

border patrol,

extorting drug money.

punctuation as a second language, i

a dash is redundancy, prefaced--

clarification that is often misleading,

or oddly contradictory; however,

as a bracket--an aside, which won't be held;

that can't wait--it is quite useful.



punctuation as a second language, ii

the ellipsis

implies a leap

of logic; that what

follows it is

connected, somehow,

by something lent,

to the previous sentence.

and so, those two thoughts

remain disjointed; yet are compatible,

without having

the span ...

finished



punctuation as a second language, iii

semi-colons allow one to keep on going

--pontification; defecation; eliminating the need

for an and. when you were a kid, everything

was a part of a bigger picture; ripping pages

from a drawing pad, you can just fill

infinite space; and ...



punctuation as a second language, iv

a comma is a tale

that stretches with clauses,

& catches the tongue;

sometimes, unintentionally,

changes your meaning--

a mouse,

turning into mouth.

but, the truth is, i'm never sure

when to use this mark; or why,

since it would be better

to order your words properly and, thus,

avoid the condition.