Three Poems By Robin Ray

Robin Ray, formerly from Trinidad & Tobago, resides in Port Townsend, WA. If being a gay, mixed race immigrant wasn't enough, he also discovered he was saddled with autism, PTSD, and bipolar disorder. A self-taught musician, novelist, screenwriter and poet, his works have appeared at Neologism Poetry Journal, Red Fez, Aphelion, Scarlet Leaf Review, Flash Fiction World, Spark, and elsewhere.

Sax and Violence

and for once

the heartbeat of a sax

is conceptualism

bebop’s golden reach

blue notes dangling

like chrysalis in the air

i feel my muscles hypertrophy

they call abstraction a sin

who’s who?

invest time in an invention

that subverts gravity

pulverizes matter

boxes its ear

sends it whimpering back

through the pines

could be time well spent

careful with those

acciaccaturas, bird

might behead somebody someday

maybe even me.

Tesla Had a Twin

the words between words are words

am   was is   rejoice!

one minus x = nightmare city

toss the ring   skirt the boss

ring the bones   nothing’s lost

cassiopeia bondaged again

500 tons of cocaine in her cleavage

wickedness blinds the deaf

the words between words are warring

troop stamp tramp sloop stomp

mace spear knave sword slave

he who breathes life into horror

drinks pain

electricity grinds its axe again

one plus x = sweet retirement

ante up

it’s all over.

Chloë is All Grown Up

she belongs to the nice

the 5th wave of opportune

the mystic ambrosia

accidentally cut bleeds ambivalence

naturally tanned

drunk off laughter

gracile in her touch

gloomy in ignominy

the opposite of love is transparency

bidding war / lottery / slot tournament

prize: her hand

results: no winner

perhaps just the bridge from which

her lonely heart was flung.