Three Poems by henry 7. reneau, jr.

pixie dust, in progress

for Ashley "Ash" Hunter

                    every big thing
has small beginnings
My Little Pony
becomes Secretariat
every phoenix
risen from crematoria ash
micro-chipped
off the old block
                   in every part of
every living thing/
is stuff that once was rock
is the Starbucks mermaid
              with bifurcated tail
the unexpected gift
at an unexpected time
like homemade dynamite,
or gansta, gangsta
wit' extra clips
               in her Hello Kitty
backpack--
mini-me
as Mighty Mouse,
the gimme cap
turned back--
Tinkerbell
10 feet tall & bulletproof
                 as hundred proof
as lightening in a bottle


Note:  quoted italicized fragment by Lorine Niedecker



Emiliya

Beauty resides, always, in the eye of the beholder.  "Amelia" penned "Emiliya"
by immmigrants who couldn't spell.

This or that expression of beauty solely obliged to the outside gaze:  Some scrap
of symmetry gets noticed, here & here, & there.  A splash of mystique inside a 
mischievous smile, leaping boundless from the window of her soul.

The lady had many secrets, & da Vinci just painted one of them.

The Stevie Wonder calliope of harmonica glee
that escorts Venus on a half-shell onto shore--all wonder wonderful & awe.

Like beauty is defined:  moonlight on ascent of angels,
as priceless that surrounds the heart,
a silvery beguilement
of diaphanous moonbeams wax &
wane a feminine
lunar gravity of magnetic attraction
that compels emotion, & the waves, to rise enthralled.



vente quad mocha/whole milk/whipped cream & a caramel drizzle

a surface sweetness
excito-toxin
that is everything sexual except sex
the family-friendly logo
a big bold spicy shout-out
Farrah Fawcett billow of hair
that covers
her once bare breasts
the mermaid of Starbucks
her bifurcated tail
the splayed legs of celebri-ho
an empty cup
waiting to be filled
as if ambushed by
come-hither euphoria
too seductive
to deny

henry 7. reneau, jr. writes words in fire to wake the world ablaze:  free verse illuminated by courage that empathizes with all the awful moments, launching a freight train warning that blazes from the heart, like a chambered bullet exploding inadvertently.