PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

Oh my goth! I wrote this?! By the way, read the footnotes.


Photograph by George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin



I. Goth Club

While the synthesizer-hum leaks out
into a nightly fog, they, of angry boots
and black nails, ansteher¹ like a bus
line of ravens awaiting a celebration
with funeral passes in hand.

Inside, their charcoal hair saturates
with smoke. The stained carpet hides
under the dim air. A gauntly figure
bear hugs another gaily and kashr²s.
A black widow sits stiff on a tattered
couch awaiting for dance floor traffic.

The bartender scatters like a pinball,
stalls, and sets a shot glass atop
a napkin. That will be: [he shows his
four fingers]. A queue-sitter gives his
neighbor a flame to light her cigarette.

A wolf eyes a berlenggang³ing belle,
stops her, and turns her corset into
a conversation; they yell at each other
over ruthless amps until an unknown
nyelonong⁴s and steals the show.

Marked with strobing, alternating hues,
the dance floor creeks to the treading
intruders--a figure grabs invisible spider
webs; another gagrom⁵s rhythmetically;
another moves like a black goose upon
a treadmill; another binglodonk⁶s as if
possessed by rapid beats. All night

the ritual continues, amongst the dim,
smokey air of their weekly haven.  


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Non-English Equivalent Words
¹ Ansteher (German) - To stand in a queue.
²  Kashr (Persian) - Displaying the teeth in laughter
³  Berlenggang (Indonesian) - To walk gracefully by swinging ones hands or hips.
⁴  Nyelonong -(Indonesian, Informal) -  To interupt without apology.
⁵  Gagrom -(Boro, Indian) -  To search for a thing below water by trampling.
⁶  Bingildamak - (Wagiman, Australian) - To quiver like jelly.







II. Drag Show



Behind the red certain, a figure adjusts

her creeping cleavage while stage lights

and amps awaken. The audience, too,

awakens. To a boom-boom,



she berlanggang¹s into the spotlight,

teasingly, as show-goers respond with

an allegretto of sharp whistles, woohs,

and claps. Her eyelashes sparkle stiff;

her hair scatters like a head of fire; her

lips of cherry and gleam unveil an array

of ivory-pure.



A shirtless bartender leans his elbow

to counter, facing the action of made-

belles. An engineer, smirking attentively

at the stage, finger-straddles his fiance's

fingers, gently, and his awawa² damps

slightly. A former contestee nods end-

lessly at the beats, and another sips

pina colada while waving a folded buck.



Down the isle, she performs high-heel

steps masterfully, and she stuffs little

green gifts into her bosom. Heads turn

synchronously to her shifting locations,

until she blows a kiss and disappears

behind the red certain where the next

queen eagerly ansteher³s.







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Non-English Equivalent Words

¹ Berlenggang (Indonesian) - To walk gracefully by swinging ones hands or hips.

² Awawa - (Hawaiian) - The space between fingers or toes.

³ Ansteher (German) - To stand in a queue.