King & Queen

KING&QUEEN

KING&QUEEN

KING&QUEEN

KING&QUEEN

Todd Melicker daily wanders the streets of Petaluma, Ca, gathering data as a GPS technician. He would like to thank the editors of the following journals where some of these poems first appeared, Bateau, Chicago Quarterly Review, New American Writing, and Parthenon West Review.

This little red leaves textile series chapbook was lovingly sewn by Dawn Pendergast using recycled and remnant fabrics. little red leaves textile editions www.littleredleaves.com

LRL

2nd Printing Š Todd Melicker 2012

Todd Melicker daily wanders the streets of Petaluma, Ca, gathering data as a GPS technician. He would like to thank the editors of the following journals where some of these poems first appeared, Bateau, Chicago Quarterly Review, New American Writing, and Parthenon West Review.

This little red leaves textile series chapbook was lovingly sewn by Dawn Pendergast using recycled and remnant fabrics.

little red leaves textile editions www.littleredleaves.com

LRL

2nd Printing Š Todd Melicker 2012

King &Queen Todd Melicker

Todd Melicker

King &Queen King &Queen Todd Melicker

Todd Melicker

King &Queen

queen she has, of course, the bird-hands a knee, a perpetual sound of sun to foresee landscape & love curtains close over slopes in, sculpts with the thought of having the back hollow, the wait a hawk falls tremendously

17

vi

on the shoulders, first on his wrist the socks are removed & then an only crown: the watch the need for feet at his side wearily

king queen she has, of course, the bird-hands a knee, a perpetual sound of sun to foresee landscape & love curtains close over slopes in, sculpts with the thought of having the back hollow, the wait a hawk falls tremendously

17

vi

on the shoulders, first on his wrist the socks are removed & then an only crown: the watch the need for feet at his side wearily

king

king the entrance circled about provides radiance, the sad song of the nuclei

at the chest-bridge, the coming & goings

home is a circle, as her inability to resist radii

of the adults, sex-built like

nestle, sewn groves, the door in the word

bird-house, again his arms gone missing

16

unformed, warmth in the accumulation of

vii

when buttoning on the body. what with wings

an atom itself is a pair: formed

bowed low against a low roofed crèche, knocking

loneliness, habitat of the hands

his knee on the table, barely her timorous his

her face for the prevention of

queen king the entrance circled about provides radiance, the sad song of the nuclei

at the chest-bridge, the coming & goings

home is a circle, as her inability to resist radii

of the adults, sex-built like

nestle, sewn groves, the door in the word

bird-house, again his arms gone missing

unformed, warmth in the accumulation of

when buttoning on the body. what with wings

an atom itself is a pair: formed

bowed low against a low roofed crèche, knocking

loneliness, habitat of the hands

his knee on the table, barely her timorous his

16

her face for the prevention of

queen

vii

queen her contrary garden, the way every sum has two makers

lost, by now all loss—

every line needs direction

the cells succumb with gravity to

none so necessary as the virgule

her calf, taught as decision & with

15

to defend why a 6 shelters in a 9

viii

the watering of the grass on the dais

division with the subject, unable

she goes barefoot among flowering

face out, the cut paper of divinity

cerebellum, her strained posture as sundial

holds rapt with the hand,

king queen her contrary garden, the way every sum has two makers

lost, by now all loss—

every line needs direction

the cells succumb with gravity to

none so necessary as the virgule

her calf, taught as decision & with

to defend why a 6 shelters in a 9

the watering of the grass on the dais

division with the subject, unable

she goes barefoot among flowering

face out, the cut paper of divinity

cerebellum, her strained posture as sundial

15

holds rapt with the hand,

king

viii

king after wildness why he darts, diamonds dark

can return to her

lit, red suitable

measurement making

herself home, window

a divulgence with her hands

14

crumb trail to find

ix

the quizzical a caught look

the scraps to herself

to reanimal without

handsome, pulling

remove, her patience could

intimate violence, wring

queen king after wildness why he darts, diamonds dark

can return to her

lit, red suitable

measurement making

herself home, window

a divulgence with her hands

crumb trail to find

the quizzical a caught look

the scraps to herself

to reanimal without

handsome, pulling

remove, her patience could

14

intimate violence, wring

queen

ix

queen her guilty neck, litmus red, his gentle lapse

the lean, her expectation

hands blackening on her

alkaline, the blue shattered

a mineral exchange his

clothes of test flight, kiss

13

in touch, in holy other

x

of the continuous, panes,

human form his shame

as sewn, strewn, an arrival

upon while sleeping in

with limes, with coefficients

colored on swan, called

king queen her guilty neck, litmus red, his gentle lapse

the lean, her expectation

hands blackening on her

alkaline, the blue shattered

a mineral exchange his

clothes of test flight, kiss

in touch, in holy other

of the continuous, panes,

human form his shame

as sewn, strewn, an arrival

upon while sleeping in

with limes, with coefficients

13

colored on swan, called

king

x

queen her memory obliges the semi-permanent when she replies my will undone

membrane, durable cotton dress, her lap of hatchlings

leaving, crown of twigs, a uniform pyre

etcetera falls from sporing

a single transaction: drink this. eat this. crown of

kingdoms, comes across their park bench, pinks thru

patina, the reduction to water &

12

xi

her crown of curls, crown of

lap of farther, his remaining pair of shoes

laurel when he stands to proclaim in heaven

she carries his description, his

there is not longing turning neither to the left or right

wound in cerement, his arms in the famous x

king queen her memory obliges the semi-permanent when she replies my will undone

membrane, durable cotton dress, her lap of hatchlings

leaving, crown of twigs, a uniform pyre

etcetera falls from sporing

a single transaction: drink this. eat this. crown of

kingdoms, comes across their park bench, pinks thru

patina, the reduction to water &

12

xi

her crown of curls, crown of

lap of farther, his remaining pair of shoes

laurel when he stands to proclaim in heaven

she carries his description, his

there is not longing turning neither to the left or right

wound in cerement, his arms in the famous x

king

queen her role in repair, the ties the necessity to assemble from a question

that gird his limbs back into

circulation, elbow subtlety, that is

place, an epoxy love, for use on ceramics,

around one leg, this don’t forget, a fragile

wood, vinyl, most plastics, an assortment of

11

& the absence of swans. his crown tied

xii

nomenclature, his vegetal return while she

the heredity from comparative specimens, diminutive

applies steady pressure to the dislocated shoulder

learns the results of its adult form

an assurance of absence, interlocked wainscoting

uncertainly he is sure of his body

king queen her role in repair, the ties the necessity to assemble from a question

that gird his limbs back into

circulation, elbow subtlety, that is

place, an epoxy love, for use on ceramics,

around one leg, this don’t forget, a fragile

wood, vinyl, most plastics, an assortment of

& the absence of swans. his crown tied

nomenclature, his vegetal return while she

the heredity from comparative specimens, diminutive

applies steady pressure to the dislocated shoulder

learns the results of its adult form

an assurance of absence, interlocked wainscoting

11

uncertainly he is sure of his body

king

xii

king he has the bird-head, balance hemoglobin makes the blue jeans blue

the solicitous necks, the human figure, the war

formed with the cinching of their necks

to confer the sunrise, second

expires into swans, a bracelet

eyelid flicker hides its button hole,

10

white on walk, where the swarm

xiii

a suit, burden of the right hand for the left, so

lifestyle in its shoulder-sling

was the mark just behind the ear

sweaters never fit, bilateral

identifies, his name makes an hour

she has the remaining wing

queen king he has the bird-head, balance hemoglobin makes the blue jeans blue

the solicitous necks, the human figure, the war

formed with the cinching of their necks

to confer the sunrise, second

expires into swans, a bracelet

eyelid flicker hides its button hole,

white on walk, where the swarm

a suit, burden of the right hand for the left, so

lifestyle in its shoulder-sling

was the mark just behind the ear

sweaters never fit, bilateral

identifies, his name makes an hour

10

she has the remaining wing

queen

xiii

king clocks pick at the corpses, his all life, lifelike in a glass display case

six swans returned all but their faces

unfurl, diminished to a curl of

crowd around a corrugated hearth then

she alights & lights, like to

the hawk, an ancestry of soliloquy & conflict

cost. the appearances of choice

9

xiv

horuses the sun, honor is a pair of bare

wings. there are no folktales without

hands, feet an invention where

returned & she trades her head for her

flesh gives & crooks & would be

her hand is found & is not

queen king clocks pick at the corpses, his all life, lifelike in a glass display case

six swans returned all but their faces

unfurl, diminished to a curl of

crowd around a corrugated hearth then

she alights & lights, like to

the hawk, an ancestry of soliloquy & conflict

cost. the appearances of choice

9

xiv

horuses the sun, honor is a pair of bare

wings. there are no folktales without

hands, feet an invention where

returned & she trades her head for her

flesh gives & crooks & would be

her hand is found & is not

queen

queen she writes on him with chalk, so rely more on air

to possess, as it is decreed

reduce the work of the hands

it is well, it is well with my

apostrophes, salvationary & quick—

he is a blackboard, & adjudicated

age, the animals all his

8

xv

sold, then gold & parted her imply

after the wax, the bronze

to curtsy, determines the genus

then life, then thought, then

clarifies the smudge on her glasses

his succession of afters

king queen she writes on him with chalk, so rely more on air

to possess, as it is decreed

reduce the work of the hands

it is well, it is well with my

apostrophes, salvationary & quick—

he is a blackboard, & adjudicated

age, the animals all his

8

xv

sold, then gold & parted her imply

after the wax, the bronze

to curtsy, determines the genus

then life, then thought, then

clarifies the smudge on her glasses

his succession of afters

king

queen her crown but a cup of scale. shivers. he takes care

of her hands. the divine

tandem living, fascia

weathering profit just above the ankle

spoken softly with a hand to place

heaven stretching height from the neck &

7

renewal through furniture legs &

xvi

arms. the embrace of gentility studied

back, the wishbone assembly

the affected faces on the playing cards (her

listening, arc of an allowed

previous life as a cello)

his incline suggests his

king queen her crown but a cup of scale. shivers. he takes care

of her hands. the divine

tandem living, fascia

weathering profit just above the ankle

spoken softly with a hand to place

heaven stretching height from the neck &

renewal through furniture legs &

arms. the embrace of gentility studied

back, the wishbone assembly

the affected faces on the playing cards (her

listening, arc of an allowed

previous life as a cello)

7

his incline suggests his

king

xvi

king certainly the perfected failure life thru a door

of his song, thin

life on a hinge, she says

housing of the tongue, hymn

what’s this wing for

gleaning from, gleanings perhaps

6

xvii

she says, a pair to ferry, then

he collects, then settles in

there was only one & more

a matchbox of notes, sins

on a bird instead of an arm

queen king certainly the perfected failure life thru a door

of his song, thin

life on a hinge, she says

housing of the tongue, hymn

what’s this wing for

gleaning from, gleanings perhaps

she says, a pair to ferry, then

he collects, then settles in

there was only one & more

a matchbox of notes, sins

6

on a bird instead of an arm

queen

xvii

king when you come into the wire of birds

your kingdom, he says, remember

a bell without a clasp

the economy of ivy

promises to leap then

a series of drawn spades there

washed up on the whirl

5

xviii

will be & she & an hour

he into clover, the sun

cephalous & paradisal the clouds

she grew into him, &

climb corporately, precisely

she prays thee, given time

queen king when you come into the wire of birds

your kingdom, he says, remember

a bell without a clasp

the economy of ivy

promises to leap then

a series of drawn spades there

washed up on the whirl

5

xviii

will be & she & an hour

he into clover, the sun

cephalous & paradisal the clouds

she grew into him, &

climb corporately, precisely

she prays thee, given time

queen

queen she plays the quotient buds sprout from his knuckles

cleans the flowers from her nails

bardment. he stretches toward &

molts hundredness, attains

an atom continues its bomb

the study of the meniscus

4

& bends lillied truth

xix

of the thumb. that the beak is used

a bird too much

for sewing, leads to her

tree: the weight of

disregard of clothes, numbers—

his hesitation a lyric

king queen she plays the quotient buds sprout from his knuckles

cleans the flowers from her nails

bardment. he stretches toward &

molts hundredness, attains

an atom continues its bomb

the study of the meniscus

& bends lillied truth

of the thumb. that the beak is used

a bird too much

for sewing, leads to her

tree: the weight of

disregard of clothes, numbers—

4

his hesitation a lyric

king

xix

King &Queen Todd Melicker

Todd Melicker

King &Queen King &Queen Todd Melicker

Todd Melicker

King &Queen

Todd Melicker daily wanders the streets of Petaluma, Ca, gathering data as a GPS technician. He would like to thank the editors of the following journals where some of these poems first appeared, Bateau, Chicago Quarterly Review, New American Writing, and Parthenon West Review.

This little red leaves textile series chapbook was lovingly sewn by Dawn Pendergast using recycled and remnant fabrics.

little red leaves textile editions www.littleredleaves.com

LRL

2nd Printing Š Todd Melicker 2012

Todd Melicker daily wanders the streets of Petaluma, Ca, gathering data as a GPS technician. He would like to thank the editors of the following journals where some of these poems first appeared, Bateau, Chicago Quarterly Review, New American Writing, and Parthenon West Review.

This little red leaves textile series chapbook was lovingly sewn by Dawn Pendergast using recycled and remnant fabrics.

little red leaves textile editions www.littleredleaves.com

LRL

2nd Printing Š Todd Melicker 2012

KING&QUEEN

KING&QUEEN

KING&QUEEN

KING&QUEEN