French kissing was becoming the fashion
when we spent our afternoons learning
about poker and giggling about sex.
Years later, some of the girls got pregnant,
dropped out of school suddenly
while we all pretended not to know.
Written 29 January 2000 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Brian Fuchs, “Gossip” from Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Scissortail Press, 2020)
Shy ChildSpoiled with love and round
His bright wide eyes look in wonderment
The figures to him are blurred and scary
He does not smile
Written 5 October 1998 in Claremore, Oklahoma.
Brian Fuchs, “Shy Child” from Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Scissortail Press, 2020)
Toast
& strawberry jam,
bit of butter,
3 cups of coffee,
and the latest
poetry journal.
The smell of burnt toast
and scorched coffee
smells like morning.
The balcony is nice
this morning,
despite dead plants
left in pots from summer.
Spring is nearly over
and neglect is everywhere,
my time consumed by
words.
The jam is sweet and
the hum of an idling car
distracts from the peace.
Written September 1998 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Brian Fuchs, “On the Balcony” from Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Scissortail Press, 2020)
The peacocks carried rainbows on their tails,
dulled by a blanket of red Oklahoma dust
I chased them down to a dry creek bed, and back
finding shade in a barn stuffed full of tractors
From nests above the machinery,
the birds called out for help facetiously
Uncle Earl’s large black turkey would warble and hiss
drive me off from my shelter, away from the peacocks
Mom chatting to her cousins on a hot porch,
she didn’t hear my stories or look at my collected feathers
The cousins would go in, the day becoming too hot,
into a house filled with children playing video games
I’d run past, through the kids and the cousins
to the roof porch perch to watch the fancy birds
They would notice my absence and strut, heads bobbing
from the shelter, calling out for me in the July sun
Written 25 August 1998 in Claremore, Oklahoma.
Brian Fuchs, “Sweetwater, Oklahoma” from Okie Dokie (Scissortail Press, 2019)Continue Reading
we considered our capes
and took them seriously.
my brother and i, we were
powerful and strong.
we defended the universe
(or our little piece of it)
from evil forces; frogs
and butterflies and
horned-toads.
we claimed a tall elm
for our hideout. the
arsenal placed there
at our feet was perfect
to fight evil forces.
occasionally we would
capture a horned-toad,
just as we were called in
for dinner. we’d let
the horned-toad go and
we would fly inside.
all in a days work for
SUPERHEROES.
Written on or before 9 March 1998 in Claremore, Oklahoma.
Brian Fuchs, “little SUPERHEROES” from Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Scissortail Press, 2020)
