Poetry by Tim Kahl

8/7/2020

Poetry by Tim Kahl

Marketa CC

Pink and Blue Hallelujahs

Meditation on tortillas
   reveals the will to reach heaven.
Taco Bell glows like a beacon
   of pink and blue hallelujahs
To the streets we go to see if we're worthy.
   Drive-thru is closed; damn this trip.

Fig Leaves

Raking fig leaves, I hear voices.
   Branches chatter their dry wit.
Roots sniff at clouds with blank faces.
   I can respect trees turned human
Be careful. They are angling in on something.
   Standing naked, they want hugs.

A Noxious Gas

One of those streets where exhaust lags . . .
   fumes hover in formal bouquet.
Are you trying to choke me, city?
   Conform, driver. Keep up the pace.
Attaboy. Madness calls like a noxious gas.
   The stiffened spine going soft.

Help

Does someone rake leaves in the woods?
   Wild men weigh time flowing through hands.
Critters party in crown of trees.
   No purpose turns to greet the light.
Help is here, but too damn expensive.
   All of us wait for one more ride.

Tim Kahl [ http://www.timkahl.com] is the author of Possessing Yourself (CW Books, 2009), The Century of Travel (CW Books, 2012), The String of Islands (Dink, 2015) and Omnishambles (Bald Trickster Press 2018). His work has been published in Prairie Schooner, Drunken Boat, Mad Hatters' Review, Indiana Review, Metazen, Ninth Letter, Sein und Werden, Notre Dame Review, The Really System, Konundrum Engine Literary Magazine, The Journal, The Volta, Parthenon West Review, Caliban and many other journals in the U.S. He is also editor of Clade Song [ http://www.cladesong.com]. He is the vice president and events coordinator of The Sacramento Poetry Center. He also has a public installation in Sacramento {In Scarcity We Bare The Teeth}. He plays flutes, guitars, ukuleles, charangos and cavaquinhos. He currently teaches at California State University, Sacramento, where he sings lieder while walking on campus between classes.