#letham poems on Hello Poetry

Conor Letham Feb 2017

Tungsten

got a pink bulb
suckered in mouth—
spit it out. dribble
gobstopper sun,
pause motion to
explosive creation
cake the surface
rubber dumb, POP!

sharp tap like a
snare bubble
vacuum record
in recycling bin
you had it made
su-per-ma-ssive
try again a same
chum the chew
begin renew
anew anew review

Had the urge to write about a rubber stopper popper you chew for fun.

#poem #poetry #sun #space #food #gum #bubble #conor #letham

Conor Letham Jul 2015

Patina

We own a pond;
mottled bluebottle,
flecked in freckles
when the sunlight
skims the surface
between the moss.

I dip a finger inside
and stir. A nebula
swills, swirling like
a whisk of spilt oil
from a water spot
sometimes found
underneath a car.

My fist plunges in,
embalming a gulp;
moss bandages
around the orb that,
withdrawing in drips,
I see a new world
set alight upon it.

Patina: noun
1. a film or incrustation, usually green, produced by oxidation on the surface of old bronze and often esteemed as being of ornamental value.

2. a similar film or colouring appearing gradually on some other substance.

3. a surface calcification of implements, usually indicating great age.

#gold #poem #poetry #world #green #blue #pond #conor #letham #patina

Conor Letham Sep 2014

Underground

After the pay toll
I go down steps
to wait for a train
heading one way.

Glances reveal a
demon eyed glare
searching through
the dark tunnel,

a waft of air pushed
up against me, spins
the time I wait from
seconds to minutes.

I'm going underground.

It's warm, clinging
to soaked skin -
everyone is the same,
drenched in a fatigue

like tired ghouls
smothered in oil,
their bodies caskets
lined up as the day's

catch. We shuffle
into a viking funeral
riding the current
for the journey home.

#poem #death #train #underground #conor #letham

Conor Letham Aug 2014

Wisdom Teeth

We hold onto
each other like
teeth trapping
new wisdoms,
heads crashing
through agony

as the jaw scrapes
and screeches like
demolition derbies.
We'll battle it out,
but who will last
until one is left?

No, drag my teeth
out of contention:
lasso a noose, yank
hard until whipped
numbly off track
to bleed the oil.

#fight #couple #car #teeth #wisdom #conor #letham #demolition #derbies

Conor Letham Aug 2014

Palette

I'll have roses,
daffodils, ivy
and snowdrops
in a bouquet
on my palette.

Slipping a taste
of one another,
a puddle is made.
It is murky like
hungover clouds

though now
with new regret
I understand
the mixing of
beautiful ideas

brings me pity
for my creation
formed through
pursuit of a dream
to a wretched being.

An experimental ode to Frankenstein's creature.

#poem #poetry #paint #frankenstein #conor #letham #palette

Conor Letham Jun 2014

Husk

Putting the receiver
to the cupped side
of my leaning face,
I'll listen to an old,
dead phone, a husk
with a sound echoing
inside like a seashell:

I tune into the static
as if they were waves
sweeping in and out
of my eardrum, hear
the whisper of voices
asking the operator
to pass on last sighs.

I thought of the word 'husk' and wanted to use it somehow. I might not be done with this piece, so be warned that I may edit it!

#poem #poetry #voice #whisper #shell #phone #sound #conor #letham #husk

Conor Letham May 2014

Marlboro Woman

Could you hold me up-
right, left to sit and stare
though your sifting smoke
columns like a spinal wisp,
wasting away time in your

beautiful lungs. I like to in-
hale the cast-away smiles
you hang over me, into me,
my mind lost in taste to how
your chest is as mild as May.

"Philip Morris launched the Marlboro brand in 1924 as a woman's cigarette, based on the slogan "Mild As May". In the 1920s, advertising for the cigarette was primarily based around how ladylike the filter cigarette was, in an attempt to appeal to the mass market. To this end, the filter had a printed red band around it to hide lipstick stains, calling it "Beauty Tips to Keep the Paper from Your Lips"." - Wikipedia, Marlboro_cigarette

#beautiful #smile #smoke #cigarette #marlboro #left #smoking #right #sit #spinal #wisps #lung #hang #mild #conor #letham

Conor Letham May 2014

The Moon Jar

Choson dynasty,*
you utter from a stub
on the stand's neck,
your eyes admiring
pimpled spaces or
the bulging curves
of the moon jar.

It is imperfect like
papier-mâché,
the hollow centre
surrounded by
a slumped figure:
two bodies thrown
as lovers, where,

noticing a crease
stretch the belly,
the mating halves
fuse to function
a wholeness like
the moon we make
when we hold hands.

The Moon Jar is seen as an imperfectly round, yet 'natural' ceramic Korean piece. It is seen as pure and unflatteringly beautiful in its simplicity through which it provides many complexities.

Sources:
1. http://www.britishmuseum.org/about_us/news_and_press/press_releases/2007/the_korean_moon_jar.aspx
2. http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/asia/w/white_porcelain_moon_jar.aspx
3. http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/45432?=&imgNo;=3&tabName;=gallery-label

#love #moon #hands #perfect #lovers #body #whole #bodies #imperfection #mating #jar #conor #letham

Conor Letham May 2014

Praying

keep an eye
on her church
mouth, place
a kiss upon
liquor thighs
then remember
she'll make you.

#kiss #prayer #liquor #church #praying #conor #letham

Conor Letham May 2014

Synthetic

I ask if you want to
escape
when maybe we're only
synthetic
bound together by the
wire
slipped between our
skins
filching at each other
inside
these metamorphosis
cocoons,
waiting for one to come
outside
of our shelled carbons
nearing
the brilliance of the city
lights
as though slops of rain
dancing
off of tall windows was
like
the sky setting itself on
*fire.

Experimental with two ways of reading and a focus on the word 'synthetic'. Was originally spaced for the singular words however formatting on here won't tab spaces. So, close enough.

#love #poem #poetry #fire #relationship #escape #skin #metamorphosis #city #cocoon #lights #synthetic #wires #conor #letham