Connie Deanovich      is the recipient of a Whiting Writer's Award and a GE Award for Younger Writers. She is the author of Zombie Jet (Zoland Books), Watusi Titanic (Timken), and has work in several anthologies. Formerly of Chicago, she now lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

from THE SPOTTED MOON

1. justice bongos emit
   patterns of decision
   into the air
   
   and wide-opened orchids
   show colorfully that
   sex is common
   
   essentially the invalid
   tiger is only
   lame for cameras
   
   the explorers continue
   laughing at eczema
   toting canned chicken
   
   the spears shine
   despite history and
   cool the tongue
   
   a woman's lover
   enjoys refreshments in
   a loin cloth
   
   there are eyes
   and ears and
   toes and tails
   
   the sky darkening
   can qualify as
   grand scale wisdom
   
   practically bird song
   her thoughts succumb
   to the wind
   
   these four travelers
   one you know
   starch their linen
   
   first they boiled
   water then they
   added the antiques
   
   suppression is half
   of mental recollection
   a beautiful door
   
   starting south the
   little phrase is
   vulgar yet funny
   
   any joke on
   rhinestone legs arrives
   with parted lips
   
   the kisses derived
   from mental torpor
   offer many cures
   
   big wide hair
   that's bleached blonde
   reduces guess work
   
   get a beer
   deck of cards
   money and missionaries
   
   marry in orange
   with the cheekbones
   of a sentinel
   
   suspicious of ants
   pink flowers and
   women as priests
   
   pray with water
   a heavenly lubricant
   surrounding the globe
   
   chastisement works best
   at night with
   a strong flashlight
   
   
       •     •     •     •     •
   
   

THE FRONTIER AND THE BACH FRONTIER

rose           petals dipped in           sugar other social concerns

a dark mobile           for           a bad           baby healthy as a carrotathon

the dork-mobile’s in the driveway now           lingering           like an

assumption of crime           wave from the doorway           limp laughter in

the snow           March ripening           like an Elizabethan banquet

festivities like an hourglass           bible verses and fetishes           digital hourglass digital

pomp and digital           circumstances stand           vigorous as melody

Bach troubles           one-way ticket out of music school

brown leather           jungle aroma on the fingertips

the three ancient schools’           notable pupils           but early Bach’s

salary           His duties there           His competition with

agreement and disagreement           David’s love for           itself a thing to

love lies bleeding           like a fuchsia rope of petals around

the tattoo Fabio           some regrets must be chiseled away

up to 10-gauge wire using           only the teeth