by Suzán Jiván
An affront to sovereignty
under the provinces of the Pentagon
as drones buzz over the little-known in
unnoticed, unarmed and unmanned
crafts foreshadowing handfuls
of the last man standing
beneath the rumbling rafters
of a whistling psychopath...
by Suzán Jiván
I
The near death
of the irreplaceable
having escaped
being tabulated as slaves
II
Under the moniker of folk art
with dry brush markings
of a hermit in a hut
made from fusty
ink and brush
of the unlucky
III
Secreted away
atop a corrugated plane
as highly attenuated play
in illusory booties over shoes...
by Suzán Jiván
I
Man minds
his sleeping grandchild
after midnight
while dreaming of pack ice
shrinking
like retreating white-winged
endangered species
II
Forced to breed in captivity
in quarantine
hitchhiking on nursery trees
III
Stored in igloos made of concrete
covered
by stone-eating microbes
blighted
by fungi and lichens
IV
Along
landlocked highways
less and less reliable
at different times
with heavy and light rains
falling in varying places
V
Fractured into factions of attack
unmarked and unmapped
in a monotony of gravel
parsed by tangents
on a sliding scale
VI
Nudged here and there
without looking back
at sniffing animals
wearing artifice as armor
VII
Stabbing fingers skyward
as a classically bona fide striving
in a rapt exercise
with a passive statuette
in prickly defense
of morbidity
in pivotal trophies
VIII
Proudly pointing out the rapture
of song and dance
with a contrarian maverick
from the prevailing
underclass
with gross misunderstandings
praised
as an idyllic cast...
by Suzán Jiván
A calm arm-twister
relinquishing savagery
by speaking out with civility
after singling out
lagging individual action
in benign hideouts
becoming cut-and-dry
like pie-in-the-sky-stealthy might
stealing by in noiseless flight
ready to strike across blurring lines
of nonviolence and deceitful hype...
by Suzán Jiván
I
Slightly
stuffy
but
some-
what
hum-
ble
from
the long-
term fussing
of an absurdist public
in unusual numbers
as colorful sculptures
between finger and thumb
II
Becoming wonderfully messy
like an obsessive blessing
concentrating on the chockablock
avant-garde as slightly bucolic
tumultuous objects
in ponderous chartreuse and olive...
by Suzán Jiván
Almost halo-like
escaping unscathed
by standing fast
in the face of spectators
like sword makers
in a background plane
illusionistically portrayed
and mathematically based
in heightened sensations
of unshakable faith
and irrepressible strength
garnering the same fate
of " The Annunciation "
in a bedchamber
twice as high as it is wide
like a foreshortened Christ...
by Suzán Jiván
A new light to the wider urbanized
sprawling across lifetimes
of mile markers
like prickly matriarchs
emblazoned by bushwhackers
retreat from the urban elite
closest to the city freely or cheaply
as multi-tiers blanketing the region
with debunkings
of the myth of one as too vulnerable...
by Suzán Jiván
Lingering
over achy phrases
as sophisticated domains
gone crazy
sounding tacky
like tasteless reality
sung ruefully
as husky and bluesy
flotsamy and blubbery
with satirical fragility
and random casualties
grotesquely hackneyed
as wannabes
with prominent scars
in ornamented bodies
of found objects
like epoxied hierarchies
of possibility
at least initially
as anomalies
involving bleaching
and teasing
coexisting arguably
as wiry wigs of irony...
by Suzán Jiván
A wealthy backer
aggressively attacking
the eeewww factor
captured as chapters
of revulsion in matters
as shouting matches
for ick factors
in full houses
of haphazardly
quasi-autobiographical
smackings of animality
graphically portrayed
with an assassin's twang
while flooding the stage
with gross displays
unashamedly
followed by elation
in a parlor game
of disgusting charades...
by Suzán Jiván
With tingling pleasure
unretrenched as tellingly celestial
with an unbridled sense in extremis bound together in intrepid
text-free spreads
with chapter headings
of incessant assuredness
in indelible complexities
of multidirectional reflections
ecstatically brandished
as an exacting scrapbook
of poetic couples
squiggling in the clinches...
by Suzán Jiván
Unpatterned black bare
moist nostrils heavy boss
svelte forehead erectile crest
black garters upper legs
spotted flanks hind legs
undulate, elongate, punctuate
full length mouth agape
noisemaking nearly naked floodplain...
by Suzán Jiván
I
Between finger
and thumb dun-
colored sculptures
pleasantly jumbled
II
All of a sudden
posthumously loved
in burdensome tumult
as a watercolor study
III
Sensibly enough
like newcomers
entirely in the nude
IV
In casts that include
idiosyncratic humor
as pharmaceutical cures
V
Like tear-jerkers
of absurdity
seeping outward
overpoweringly...
by Suzán Jiván
Slow
moving
mostly
noc-
turnal
blend-
ing
in
per-
fectly
with
a
good
sup-
ply
of
prey
in
between
parted
front
legs
in
a
genus
cap-
able
of
de-
cay
as
a
pa-
pery
egg
case
in
a
woo-
den
chamber
with
communally
chewed food
unsuitable
for wing-
less forms
feeding
on fungi
algae
and
lichens
Anchored by nymphal skin
and an exoskeleton
with abdominal segments
split down the back
into the thorax
remaining attached
to visible wing pads
as a praying mantid...
by Suzán Jiván
I
A welter of mayhem
building momentum
from a glower to a pout
spellbound underground
II
Lilac walls
and
red doors
just, " Because "...
III
Living by wits
in flash-lighted
pictures
and the like
undisguised
anchored by
uncanny eyes
IV
In pursuance
of mankind
like tough guys
hobbled by
black and white
at first light
V
Like memories of ice
at first sight
with razor-bladed vibes
designed entirely
as snippets from diaries
VI
Incessantly reprinted
republished and revisited
as unexhibited inhibitions
VII
Pale pink, light green
and deep lavender
refractions
of extravagance
trickling
down hourglasses
coated in wax...
by Suzán Jiván
Busy amping up with flashbacks
in a strange land foreshadowed
by glamorous attractions of alchemy
in admiring eye blinks
while hiccuping blindly
woefully unrecognized
sniffing and pinching
the predictably grisly
in the midst of whimsy
above the groove while digging in
decisively like two-timing
rarely harmonized velvety quiet
with the clear delight
of youthful reminders
hard-wired as fictionalized
grim statistics
of silhouetted brilliance
intrinsically dimmed
by double-crossed victims
as inconsistent sentimentalists...
by Suzán Jiván
A passel of honors
on the long list
of the glorification of war
as a short story
filled with morphine hits
changing hands
in an armistice
of the hellishly compelling
brownish reds
intimately connected
with the lethal letters
of the cleverly senseless
giving up their dead
as learned lessons
crammed into a head
immersing itself in revenge...
by Suzán Jiván
The
bar-
ren
ex-
panse
of
a
hil-
ly
waste-
land
with
grue-
some
flash-
backs
of rag-
tag top
brass
swoo-
ping
over
the
area
fright-
en-
ingly
ba-
by
faced
shell-
shocked
and
ra-
ving
bat-
tered
bla-
tant-
ly
at
stra-
tegic
lo-
ca-
tions
of
fu-
tile
en-
gage-
ments
in a
for-
eign
lan-
guage
with
mach-
in-
a-
tions...
by Suzán Jiván
The perception of inevitability
permeated by the incapable
decimated by hard labor
bound for the stage
in an adaptation
of, " Hairspray "
with ease and imagination
like a bequeathed beauty queen
in a nation weary of the weird
being criticized widely
as glittery and incisive
in capering dance and brass
fanfares with advanced ticket sales
for the jaggedly handsome
and raggedly romantic
as slicked-backed shaggy
shaping the fragile played dazzlingly
culminating with a standing ovation
of harmonic celebration...
by Suzán Jiván
Forward-hooked
horns calf born
in highlands
exclusive harems
distinctive pattern
as scarce aggregates
of bachelor males curving backward
in a darkening arc of miombo
short bodied, knock-kneed, scraggly
next to the camel largely adapted
as an extract from plants
like tussock grass
built rather small
dewlap at jaw
equally long
insubordinate
S-shaped horns
forequarters
loping along
migratory
ridged horns
U-forms
offspring born
waterless wards
sizable hoards
cow-like horns
knobby boss
somewhat longer
returning to the taller
spiral-horned dorsal borders
spotted torsos legs tawny thornbush
erect crest flexing chevron X...
by Suzán Jiván
Flight feathers black, but white
under primaries brown juveniles
along shorelines around a yellow eye
large carcasses tiny larvae
big cavities through Sahara
waiting for scraps shaggy
ruff dusky pink bone-eating
revealing underwings raucous screams
nest lining mammalian skin and hair
canting side-to-side feeding on hares
and dik-diks monitor lizards
drinking preening inconspicuously
hidden heavy bellies sub-desert
stick nests at rest wing edges
red defenses graceful descents
shallow nests semi-desert
watershed empty steppes
snatched nestlings livestock pens
compulsive theft rivers edge
long crests lapping
wakes seizing
eye rings
dung beetles...
by Suzán Jiván
Haunting
the outer beaches
as most migrants
in the interior
short thick bills
in winter
mournful whistle
dropping in the middle
long distance slimmer
wing tips rich whistle
golden-plover, snowy
piping Killdeer broken wing
flopping mostly orange
white collar field mark
obvious underparts
mobbed dark-tipped whistle
clear "wheeep" wave-washed
rocks harsh sharp foreparts
hard, "kwip" stout bill over winter
teetering bobbing uncommonly solitary
barred underparts muddy pond
bush top stodgy bulky body
marbled flocks of godwits
fairly common on one spot
whistles of wandering on and on
whinnying trilling
early in winter
darkening still...
by Suzán Jiván
Like
an
after-
thought
as
strength
by
de-
fault
varying enormously
back and forth as eyes crossing
into relentless formulas
out of proportion
on hand
as free-
lance
petal
patterns
that
vanish
clearly scattered
off
campus
by a pathological draft...
by Suzán Jiván
Rising
and falling
robinlike
but hoarser
as a dry call
while foraging
along tall
cottonwoods
all year long
waddling
on lawns
short tail
green gloss
gurgle whistle
rough trill
spiky bill
high-pitched
twitter
dark whisker
dense brush
buzzy buff
fluttering up...
by Suzán Jiván
Raw and raucous
coming to the fore
ground out
and tipped off
as the epitome
of artistry
as paradoxical spots
of goofy honesty
applied to white
like stated desire
in a staid place
of " Home, Home
on the Range "
with the density
of dangly dipsticks
stippled with drips
daubs and dots...
by Suzán Jiván
Hairpin twists
of coincidence
with implausible
principles
of nip-n-tuck
not soon enough
seemingly brittle
as one tough chick
of funny money
all of a sudden
unscrupulously
looping
in gestural
movements
gone askew
while covered
in tatoos
in a lurid
romp
past nagging
problems
with reasonable
analogues
as markers
snap and snarl...
by Suzán Jiván
Inshore waters
spawning
dorsal and caudal
fins forked
much sought
caught midpoint
trawling
overhanging predation
manmade
distorted proportions
of body
forms swift water
Heavily
silted turbidly
intolerant
dark markings
dissolved oxygen
comers of jaws
unusually long
at midwater
lips thick
rounded tips
small rivers
brackish habitats
dusky to black
chub gathering
course gravel
aborted courtship
off shore...
by Suzán Jiván
Boldly
in the open
on poles
bright rufous
shoulders
juvenile
wing-
linings
thighs
streaked
down below
narrow
two-toned
scarce
and local
visible only
on display
puffed up
rapidly
drumming
wing
thumping
"cluck"
rusty
rump
sharp
"chik"
harsh
"check"
red-bellied
distended
upended
on head
chattering
rattle
ladder-
backed
white
patch
red cap
cactus
canyon
barred
in back
black-
capped
carrion
over-
lapping
black
bib
whining
wheezy,
"Deee deeer
Deee deeer
Deee deeer"...
by Suzán Jiván
A fragrant mixture self-seeding
spreading leaves as silver filigrees
of Artemisia with chives
and thyme as stoneflies
For a moment biting violins
both as logical and inexplicable
like a pilgrimage with a shimmy
left unfinished
Ably depicted as straightforwardly
as a poet and mystic
of the lickety-split at a crowded vigil
For prowling animals
as artifacts of the wary
in fecal matter between two camps
pliant and groovy
in a mirrored universe
on the multiple moons of Jupiter
Like widely-separated
compound eyes
with projections called style
on the undersides
Considered primitive
with slender cerci
on threadlike antennae
Simple biting predacious cycles
on stone-bottomed streams
cross-crevicing
forward facing
torpid prey...
by Suzán Jiván
Even more hauntingly formidable
as sapphire crystal
re-imagined as amethyst
in a pyramidal prism
of vitreous solvents of silica
simulating hydrologic cycles
of vital electrolytes in between Isles
correspondingly re-aligned
as a crystalline skyline
in hard type openly mined..
by Suzán Jiván
Giant damselfly
fore-and-hind
wings in flight
plucking spiders
large eyes
nymphs climb
claspers
on abdomen
still grasping
stagnant
native lands
club tailed...
by Suzán Jiván
Spit and polish
lavishly stocked
in an avante garde salon
of the remarkable
holding out for promise
presciently conjured
like the bygone
preoccupied
at the same time
identically in exile
with a quadruple
bow and jabot
among the oldest
ingeniously folded
in alternating rows
while assuming a pose
as a shaggy coat
grizzled gray
tapering at the base
speckled red standing erect
broad head digging claws
conspicuously moist and noisy
like a swooping swarm...
by Suzán Jiván
Awkwardly akimbo
fully uninhibited
like the carnal
and demonic
insights
from scholars
overseeing
departments
of opalescent shards
from demolished
hospitals
for auteur prophets
ode to prominence
in neat arcs
sheepishly departed
like a rickety car
Roots and tubers
with tender shoots
dependent on lagoons
and a single white goose
singing, " Coor-a-loo, coor-a-loo "
while facing intruders
in communal roosts
eclipsing plumage
Powerfully built
distinctly ringed
nearly spotless
with springing
and climbing ability
Uniformly tawny
hindquarters
nocturnal forage
fox-like proportions
arid savanna
tall grass...
by Suzán Jiván
Roots and tubers with tender shoots
dependent on lagoons
and a small white goose
singing, " Coor-a-loo, coor-a-loo "
while facing intruders
in courtship groups
with eclipsing plumage...
by Suzán Jiván
Awkwardly akimbo fully uninhibited
like the carnal and demonic
insights from scholars
overseeing departments
of opalescent shards
from demolished hospitals
for auteur prophets
owed to prominence in neat arcs
sheepishly departed like a rickety car...
by Suzán Jiván
In the years before
invigorating
portraits with the past roaring
and squaring off
as thoroughly absorbing
with something more
converging on a corner
against forces
of mind-numbing conformity
never crossed...
by Suzán Jiván
Within the cozy
confines
of the only
place of its kind
on the spine
of a sideline
swingin' on by
with the arrival
of a shim-sham-shimmy
as a real-time link
lovably scrappy
cohesively dramatic
cooing on the ground
head bowed, gray crown
conceal, surround...
by Suzán Jiván
Gotten on
enough soapboxes
from grand to modest
and on and on
having gone
way too far
as a grande dame
with the peek-a-boo
quality of overarching
works in progress
while on the cusp of possibility
like tongue-in-cheek measured in feats
of captivity with limited experience
in idiosyncrasies coinciding uneasily
with the bottom line of domestic life...
by Suzán Jiván
Performed on YouTube
as, " Other People's Secrets "
Other people's secrets
contrived with an insider's vibe
strikingly destabilized
getting wise to the absurdities of life
Ferociously nearby locked in tightly
on consecutive nights
with bloody fistfights
bestowed as a worldwide title
Imbibing like a life-sized wild drinker
in the bacchanals of the ' 60s
with an occasional martini
and an accented flip
of the ambitious
as exotic and unfamiliar
when and if
caught in the middle
with an interest
in an idealistic uplift
from a quixotic beginner
in intoxicants...
by Suzán Jiván
for Lester Mobley
Performed on YouTube
as, " Nearly Nonstop "
Nearly nonstop
as an inventive concoction
of wit and charm
with subsequent mockery
Lost in revelry
unsettlingly skinny
like melons in spring
roughly touching
gently sinuous
Grey green laid singly
in ravines
satiny sheen hillside
faraway heights
Magical properties
buoyed by steam
bulging streams
scorched pieces
jagged peaks...
by Suzán Jiván
Performed on YouTube
as, " Gently Appealing "
Gently appealing
less radical
than originally planned
with the bravura of magic
as a convoluted tale
like an iconoclastic pastor
as a quirky slacker
for the must-haves of blandness
practicing acting
as mild-mannered has-beens
forever on tap
for virtuosos of so-so bo bos
Enough to make it glow
at the base
of a cleaved face on a basal plane
lulled by a volcano in a conical shape
with an oozing crater
Greater and lesser yellowlegs
with whitish marks on dark upper parts
running then stopping
while nesting in a shallow depression
with bits of shells and pebbles
streakings on heads
barrings on breasts
underparts awash
low staccatos
spotted Godwits
distinctly larger...
by Suzán Jiván
Performed on YouTube
as, " Cashed the Heart Jack "
Cashed the heart Jack
and played another heart
while thrusting a partner
in an interlocking plot
after leading the 13th heart
and seeking solace in an armory
after piercing the heart
with submarginal eyespots
on a red distal bar
sleepy orange
iridescent copper
territorial posture
wooded swamp
cobweb quarry
Masterpieces of Ming
hard to see entering the scene
hand scrolling smoky calligraphy
above the tundra and hummocks
fast becoming a summit
in great numbers at dusk
turning the back of his head to her
as a wood duck wings tucked under
grass or brush green speculum
tail tipped up, head pump, white clutch
