<p class="epil"><i>Wordsworth in New York</i></p>
<div class="line">Those daffodils that I recall</div>
<div class="line">While lying on a bed settee</div>
<div class="line">Are faded now, their petals fall</div>
<div class="line">In nature and in memory.</div>
<div class="line">It’s time to rise, to go outside</div>
<div class="line">And head off for a subway ride.</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">I’m in New York’s YMCA</div>
<div class="line">Undressing for a midday swim;</div>
<div class="line">A poet could not but be gay</div>
<div class="line">With bodies toned up in the gym.</div>
<div class="line">But I am getting no cheap thrills</div>
<div class="line">From dongs like dangling daffodils.</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">I twinkled at the twinkies there</div>
<div class="line">Tossing their heads in sprightly dance</div>
<div class="line">Or heading for the sauna where</div>
<div class="line">I might get lucky if, by chance,</div>
<div class="line">One of the bronzed and buffed young men</div>
<div class="line">Is eager for my fountain pen.</div>
<div class="line"> </div>
<div class="line">But, sadly, no one needs to hear</div>
<div class="line">This exiled poet strut his stuff.</div>
<div class="line">I am an old Romantic queer,</div>
<div class="line">Ignored, unloved. I’ve had enough.</div>
<div class="line">I join the hustling New York crowd</div>
<div class="line">And wander lonely as a cloud.</div><figure class="wp-block-audio"><audio controls src="https://admin.rattle.com/audio/KellyDaffodils.mp3"></audio></figure>

The Venturi Effect

Voice Lessons

Daffodils

<p class="epil"><em>for a dead student</em></p>
<div class="line">The gun has gained against the gown again</div>
<div class="line">and you lie dead beside an upturned chair.</div>
<div class="line">Stuff happens, someone says when we complain.</div>
<div> </div>
<div class="line">We clean the classroom desk, remove the stain</div>
<div class="line">of blood and wipe away the traces where</div>
<div class="line">the gun has gone against the gown again.</div>
<div> </div>
<div class="line">The library books you borrowed will retain</div>
<div class="line">no sense of your intensive reading there.</div>
<div class="line">Stuff happens, someone says as we complain.</div>
<div> </div>
<div class="line">The essays you were writing will remain</div>
<div class="line">undone. You’ve no assignment to prepare.</div>
<div class="line">The gun has gained against the gown again.</div>
<div> </div>
<div class="line">There are no future grades you can attain,</div>
<div class="line">no graduation gown for you to wear.</div>
<div class="line">Stuff happens, someone says, then we complain.</div>
<div> </div>
<div class="line">Those who loved you endure the constant pain</div>
<div class="line">of finding you beyond the range of prayer.</div>
<div class="line">The gun shall shred the blood-stained gown again.</div>
<div class="line">Stuff happens. Stuff will happen. We’ll complain.</div><figure class="wp-block-audio"><audio controls src="https://admin.rattle.com/audio/KellyGown.mp3"></audio></figure>

The Non-Euclidean Universe

Poets Respond

Black Horse

The Gun and the Gown

<div class="line">A cartoon is not funny if I say</div>
<div class="line">a cartoon is not funny. You may think</div>
<div class="line">what you may think, but I will print</div>
<div class="line">only what I decide to print. You may</div>
<div class="line">object. You may at least expect a link.</div>
<div class="line">But I decide what I will not reprint.</div>
<div> </div>
<div class="line">A picture may be worth, as someone said,</div>
<div class="line">a thousand words. An image may, also,</div>
<div class="line">encapsulate what words may never know.</div>
<div class="line">But I have no desire to join the dead.</div>
<div class="line">They knew what they were doing and they bled.</div>
<div class="line">I ask myself if I could ever show</div>
<div class="line">such courage, such defiance. Oh hell, no.</div>
<div class="line">I’d rather cut the news and die in bed.</div><figure class="wp-block-audio"><audio controls src="https://admin.rattle.com/audio/KellyEditor.mp3"></audio></figure>

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January 18, 2015Words for a Craven EditorConor Kelly

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January 18, 2015Words for a Craven EditorConor Kelly

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Daffodils by Conor Kelly

The Gun and the Gown by Conor Kelly