Poetry by John Dorsey

              ​Paul Sableman CC



​
Watching the Winter Olympics in a Toledo Gas Station

snow flutters outside the window
before touching down

the air at the counter
smells like motor oil
& a warm day in ann arbor
that’s now a fuzzy memory

we forget our failures here
tell time under the weight
of god and country

warming our hands
in front of billowing
exhaust pipes

& the buffalo wings
taste like victory.





John Dorsey lived for several years in Toledo, Ohio. He is the author of several collections of poetry, including Teaching the Dead to Sing: The Outlaw's Prayer (Rose of Sharon Press, 2006), Sodomy is a City in New Jersey (American Mettle Books, 2010), Tombstone Factory, (Epic Rites Press, 2013), Appalachian Frankenstein (GTK Press, 2015) Being the Fire (Tangerine Press, 2016) and Shoot the Messenger (Red Flag Poetry, 2017),Your Daughter's Country (Blue Horse Press, 2019), and Which Way to the River: Selected Poems 2016-2020 (OAC Books, 2020). His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and the Stanley Hanks Memorial Poetry Prize. He was the winner of the 2019 Terri Award given out at the Poetry Rendezvous. He may be reached at [email protected].
​