Matthew Borczon: Poetry (Western Voices 2021)

 

Bio: Matthew Borczon is a writer and nurse from Erie, Pa. He is the author of 15 books of poetry, his most recent Saved Rounds will be out soon through Kung Fu Treachery Press. He works as a nurse for developmentally disabled people and has been in the United States Navy Reserve for 19 years. He publishes widely in the small press and is the father of four children with his wife of 25 years.

 


Nothing

 

Nothing

is the

sound of

Hound Dog

Taylor's guitar

unplugged it's

Robert Johnson

before he

reached the

cross roads

it's what

the devil

lost in

that deal

and nothing

is what

I dream

of every

day since

Afghanistan

no thing

behind my

eyes at

night no

sound inside

my head

no cacophony

of whirring

suction pumps

no white

noise of

wound vacs

and no

chorus of

screaming ghosts

reminding me

nightly that

my best

was never

good enough


 

words

 

Dead

as

a

door

nail

dead

ringer

ring

your

neck

in

your

neck

of

the

woods

if

man

is

the

head

of

his

house

the

woman

is

the

neck

so

turn

turn

turn

of

the

screw

screw

your

courage

to

the

sticking

place

screw

you

and

the

horse

you

rode

in

on

if

wishes

were

horses

beggars

would

ride

this

leaving

train

straight

into

heaven

and

high

cotton

on

these

lonely

nights

with

nobody

to

drink

with

and

nothing

but

words

for

company.


 

Tough love

 

I'm trying

to love

the world

the way

a cowboy

loves his

sick horse

the kind

of love

that will

fill it

full of

laudanum

before you

shoot that

nag right

between

the eyes.


3 comments :

  1. Wow such power in few words. The arrangement makes them all the more powerful. The first poem begins with the blues, then suddenly escalates into wartime death. The association brings out the trauma and horrors of the thing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a great set of poems my brother. It was nice to read these and understand the meaning behind them. Keep up the great work.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dustin says it well. The blues. The death. The trauma and its lingering aftereffect. The breath keeping on breathing.

    ReplyDelete

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