Retort Magazine

A day at the zoo

A rhesus macaque
aligns then mounts
a rhesus macaque

machines for existing

not even, parts
of a machine.

A rhino butts
a rock, stumbles.

We have nothing
in common
with the beasts.

Continue reading ~ Two Poems by Rufo Quintavalle →

Brutus

We overslept and missed the Spring again,
and then came an angry man,

spluttering blood, farting beluga.

Go away, we said, with your mischief
and your hideous beard, but he stayed.

He scared my cousin with his talk of girls,
and my wife with his knowledge of money.

He put the fear of God in us all
and stayed forever: a hulking

unwanted, necessary saint.

Continue reading ~ 4 poems by Rufo Quintavalle →

Shelf

1.

Itself, An Amiable Follow thru.

I’ll Impress

Matter Both his and mine Into a thin Hopscotch

Carapace Rewritten Inside and refilled Naturally. 2.

Heady ideas Interest The theocrat

This will be less, It will start Its meandering road In me.

There is so much: Eyebrows, stubble, Manbreasts, The soft down That joins . . . → Read More: A Poem by Rufo Quintavalle