Colton Claye’s Variation on Kenneth Koch’s “Variation on a theme by William Carlos Williams”

By Colton Claye

This is just to say:
 
 I have cleared
 the forests
 that were in
 your country
 
 And which
 you were probably
 saving
 for their
 ability to
return water vapor to the atmosphere
 and for
the beings
who made their home there
 and for their
 adeptness at
 absorbing greenhouse gases
 
 My bad.
 Their pulp
 and the monocrops growing in their place
 were so instrumental in
 providing me with
 products that help me to
 pass the time away

About the author
Colton Claye, a native of Milwaukee, WI, is an author, songwriter, visual artist and an advocate for all conscious creatures. His work has been featured in a wide variety of print and digital publications. His latest release, The Percussive Sun, is a collection of surrealist poetry. He sends you warm regards.

ode to jerome davis

By Colton Claye

The destructive force of war created you
Your voice, as silent as God, calling out to those you created in your image
They come hoping to see you delivering a new masterpiece
or picking up your junk mail
They come seeking proof of their existence
Never matching your imagination
Or your memories of the chaos and quiet of the stalag
Where you take the perpetrator for your bride
Offering her the hand of the creator who puts as much beauty in what is left out as what is put in

About the author
Colton Claye, a native of Milwaukee, WI, is an author, songwriter, visual artist and an advocate for all conscious creatures. His work has been featured in a wide variety of print and digital publications. His latest release, The Percussive Sun, is a collection of surrealist poetry. He sends you warm regards.

another passion play

By Colton Claye

I've been chasing betrayal

all the way to your piercing gaze

and your invisible hands which lift me atop the calvary I carry inside

lowering the volume on the praise coming my way so I could hear their jeers

Once I was a poor scholar 

decorating eggshells,

walking to find you straddling the lap of the rabbit on his throne

Now you've come to take this bread.

I raise my glass and make a toast 

to the carpenter who built this barstool after he left the profession

so I could sit and drink Jello shots with the ghosts of the holy well

and tip my server

I see you in the peepshow

It isn't enough to be a voyeur anymore

I’m hoping you'll break my heart

my wounds are my way out

About the author
Colton Claye, a native of Milwaukee, WI, is an author, songwriter, visual artist and an advocate for all conscious creatures. His work has been featured in a wide variety of print and digital publications. His latest release, The Percussive Sun, is a collection of surrealist poetry. He sends you warm regards.