Poems by Perry R. Brown

    Fall is in the air. My father's season is fall. His birthday is October 7. In honor of his birthday, and of fall, here are some of his poems. The next time you see a homeless man, or a "wino," these might be his thoughts:

Ozark Tepee

Trying to comprehend
the empty
black night
zero cold

Nothing moving except stars
raw silent mystery
knife blade
moon light

The smell of muskrats
neetsfoot oil
sassafrass
wood smoke across the sky

Train moves in the distance
semi-whines, coyotes howl
imagination, love, spirit
becomes one

Asbury, Mo.
1974


Grandparents Dust

The Farm

Nine cows
rolling in the dirt
dust devils
hauling water

I don’t mind being down and dirty
I just hate the dirty way people
treat you when
you’re down

Thunder heads
molten metal
looks like it might rain
tonight

J. Edgar Hoover at the helm
fix it up, wear it out
make it do
or do without

Coming in on
a wing and a prayer
walking sideways
to keep from flying

(Undated)


The Cat

The need to have affection for
(even if it’s something ridiculous)
are the thoughts that rattle

Will you still love me tomorrow
midnight feline
nothing stirs
but a log jam on the freeway

I’m wounded
dying slow
I’m a hard hard man
got a long way to go.

1976
Eureka Springs, Ark.



Potatoes Eye

Sitting on a bluff
outside Bliss Idaho
squatted like an indian
before a smokey fire

Stars overhead blazing
lights of the distant town
like diamonds
in the sand

Reflecting
on the order
of reality
and the Nature of things

I saw
The apparition of Railroad Bill
like a mighty rushing wind
the train passed me by

1979
Bliss, Idaho



Pathetic

They caught me
like a fish on
a barbed
hook
For drinking Jesus’s wine

Ran me through with
the rapier
twenty or thirty times
said “that’s an example
for the Human Race

Kiss
the fuehrer
lick a capitalist’s dream
werewolf rooster
is eating the cream

Asbury, Mo.
1980