I Danced My Life Away

Three Poems by Chris Toll

Why Is Go in God?

Sleep is my keep,

my chant shall be haunted,

and I wake up with clean monsters.

Live would be love

if a scowl were different.

I repair a fable

and it wanders the galaxy.

The power towers are marching,

I made my head and now I’ll weep in it,

and stone boxes hold the coffins.

A woman stands on a bridge,

tears stand in her eyes,

and she asks the full moon,

“What am I being saved for?”

Love Your Enemies

for CA Conrad

I’ve come to create a new driven

and a new mirth.

A pornbot waits in a meadow.

Her ship is coming in –

and it’s not from this planet.

A seagull flies through the rain,

soldiers smoke cigarettes

outside a hotel,

and Jane has handcuffs in her purse.

Walk a mile in my moccasins

and you’ll be a big mess.

Satellite dishes drink stars,

my church falls asleep in front of the TV,

and you’re a prayer just the way you are.

Bless This Glance Around

What doesn’t thrill me

makes me hunger.

Cupidity buys new shoes.

A blue plastic bag

is caught on a tree branch

and filled with wind.

Error wears a human face.

I mend a snowstorm

and it leaves and takes its elegy.

Love comes with a walker.

Ruth is a beauty and her sleuth is moody –

that is all Marian knows

in her lonesome hotel room.

The Good Joker

lards his horde of poker chips.

Help me, Universe.

Chris Toll is a poet and collagemaker who lives in Baltimore, Maryland. In 2011, his new book will come out. Its title will be: The System Has Recovered from a Serious Error.