Thomas Fucaloro - Four Poems

Why Hawaii And Norway Are Not Near Each Other

Shake existence back into these hips,
it starts with distance and ends in dance.

Fill these lungs with tap shoes, one
swollen lymph node, two; shake existence

back into fear and calm are not near
each other but I understand

anxiety, that shitty piece of land
no one wants to build upon except

parking lots and off-track betting.
It starts with distance and ends

in dance, they found something
inside my chest. It's not a heart.



How To Kill A Rat With An Oboe

Deserving
finely tuned
dismantle
spiked
with

organ
slow and
striding
through
shifts in
hollow
filled
falling
through

the ocean
harp
sinister
in its beliefs
the true
enemy of
rhythm is
the grav(e)
itational
pull
of the
moon.



Cooking For The Paralyzed

or 

101 recipes to make your mother remember 

Something
inside you
has stopped.

The pulse
once real
now shaken
every day
trying to
shake everyday
back into existence.

You haven't lost
your marbles
just the ability
to roll them.

You are an ostrich
with no land
to claim for burial,
you are a funnel
that starts so large
then becomes so I
am a point on the map
you can no longer find.

I am no longer the map.

You are no longer
the compass.

But you still spin.

I need
that kind
of direction
in my life.

Maybe pasta
with garlic,
red sauce
and a splash
of gin.



Don't Throw Away Your Old Skin

You never know when
you might be in a tight
scrape and need a little
more of a layered approach.

I am a bit of a hoarder
when it comes to my own
body; I want to try and save
everything, even at the cost

of everything. Sing reproach
back into darkness and grin
silently letting your teeth
do all the noise. Guitars

can peel the skin right off
the bone established in-
between strings, power
chords churn a romance

meant for separation
from myself like
depersonalization
like Colorforms.



*All poem titles from the George Carlin Book Club Series.

Thomas Fucaloro is the author of two books of poetry published by Three Rooms Press, most recently It Starts from the Belly and Blooms, which received rave reviews. The winner of a performance grant from the Staten Island Council of the Arts and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs.