KG Newman

Past Due

The whole day was like

decelerating through

a yellow light.

Somebody let

all the horses out

from the fairgrounds.

Driving around them,

by the open space,

I thought I saw a turkey

mangled

in the barbed wire fence

but passing by

it was just

a tattered black trash bag.

All the clarity made

for hypocrites’ kryptonite:

Setting up for an ending

where we forgive each other

for everything

before lightning

sets the porch on fire.

---

Across All Fronts

I am crammed in on an infinite light rail,

stopping from war to war,

dreaming while standing

with my eyes forced open

of making an escape road

from the parallel river

as coronavirus loops like a gif

and my wife’s gloved hands

hold a goldfish like a promise

in a small bag of water.

---

The Foible Fumes

The scenario in which I go mute from smoking

really isn’t all that bad

until the methadone jazz runs out:

I’m trying to scream in my sleep,

thrashing like a feral son

held against the chest of his language-less dad.

I’m both the son and the dad, which startles me.

In lucidity I can’t tell if this is epic dream or nightmare;

upwards, the light’s stuck in the canopy layer.

Later, I must have the computer speak for me.

It matches my voice from podcasts, pre-self-destruction,

but my son loses his earpiece after a month.

Eventually I stand hands at my sides, gentle as men turning

into trees, and think. I see my son and know he still loves me.

He is gathering moss to dress an unspecified wound.

---

KG Newman is a sportswriter who covers the Broncos and Rockies for The Denver Post. His first three collections of poems are available on Amazon. The Arizona State University alum is on Twitter @KyleNewmanDP and more info and writing can be found at kgnewman.com. He lives in Castle Rock, Colorado, with his wife and two kids.