Caught

after a boardwalk poster

The go-round brings round
merrily the steed midstride,
robbed of its motion, thus
(maybe) furious, foaming

as (now!) the shutter
stops it, blurred, mid-glide,
ictus-click, there, here,
known, not known, come

round contained in its
own orbit, fury-eyed,
fantastically alone, caught
out, mid-stride, mid-

vault here in its arc—
it’s just a ride
and surely one hears
waves somewhere, gears

groaning, slats creaking,
a siren hailing, more
laughter, candy corn, it
rears forward furious-

seeming in its un-
motion, only motion,
deferred, inferred, caught—its
own and only motion.

Ham

Cut-glass carafes,
two white, two red,
wheels of Neufchatel
(cheese for the body,

wine for the head)—
someone laughs,
dings a dinner bell,
upon which we

come over rowdily
drawn thus to you,
the stuff around you,
the dying bell-sound:

you are the primal
victim of our primal
faith in the roasting pit,
the special honeydew

sauce, pineapple-crowned
before us hunkered round
you in the blackened pan,
blistering fat-driblets,

clove-chafed, hide studded
with peppercorns and bits
of lemon rind.—Ham,
you ooze your best

in savory death, how
is it that to host and guest
there’s nothing in this whole damn
world except you now?

Terence Culleton has published poems in a variety of reviews, including Sparks of Calliope. He has been nominated for several Pushcarts, and he has appeared on TV and radio shows in both the Philadelphia area and New York City. Several of his poems have been featured on NPR. A former Bucks County, PA, Poet Laureate, Mr. Culleton’s third volume of poetry, a collection of sonnets entitled A Tree and Gone, is now out through Future Cycle Press and has been featured on the New York Review of Books Independent Press “New Releases” list. It’s available on Amazon or through his website: terenceculletonpoetry.com.