FIVE POEMS BY FRANK T RIOS
Selected Work by Venice Poets

The long night is even
longer when the vision
is hidden
& the man in black
lights the jagged scar
under the lamppost
where he loves to hang

We gathered in a circle
canting poems
that did not rhyme
long into the long night
the music of Bird & Monk
passing the Joint
along the jagged scar

the poems wailed
Patchen & Perkoff
Corso & Rios
like a warm coat
surrounded by dying
sticking out like stumps
in a graveyard

O Lady
kiss our black pens
into the long night
where all Poets go.