Two Poems by Peter Magliocco

In the Bag

The hot Nevada summers remain
relentless reminders of desert infinity
bathed by ultraviolet bombardment;
you hear snatches of America's old song
"I've been through the desert
on a horse with no name,"
realizing the scorpions are listening.
My abductress behind the wheel
of her dust-stained Cherokee Jeep
doesn't hear anything -- certainly not
my protestations about the heat,
or the scarcity of desert cactus
becoming the sanctified site
for some strange burial ceremony
I suddenly want no part of.
Over the radio I vocalize discontent
about burying whatever she has in mind --
whatever reposes mysteriously
inside the black garbage bag in back
she insists I believe is not roadkill,
but something valued by Anasazi culture,
to stop the killing of wild horses
by unseen human predators.
One horse had no name, the wild Palomino
my abductress says she loved
the way Indians love the desert,
its rocks, & the unending heat bringing
old sweat back from morning
to line her lips with acrimony.
Before she's done, the night
will know what her bagged prize is:
something I feel was once
between us,
now
missing.

Alone in Essence

The first swallow's the sharpest
burning the tongue as I sit
mulling the heaviness of ale
on the spirit's resolve, O well.
Alone in essence I continue toasting
the painting on the studio wall
depicting a beloved woman long gone.
Once together we invaded those pools
of rainbow liquid bestowing pleasure
to inner landscapes kinetic with color,
& the purpled ambrosia of ourselves
tasted richer than cornucopia, maybe,
or Christ's wineblood to the masses.
Baby, I'm near the climactic end
but your painting remains alive.
After many years the fluid
paint stays damp and undried
with old memory's decadent freshness,
wet with orgasms from the other side.

About the author:
PETER MAGLIOCCO has edited the print lit-zine ART:MAG for 20 years out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He has several poems online at sites like EYE, UNLIKELY STORIES, THUNDER SANDWICH and THE ORACULAR TREE... His futuristic novel, "NU-EVERMORE," is available via Bookman Publishing and elsewhere. A chapbook of poetry, art, and fiction -- "ICED AMARANTH" -- is his latest from Vergin Press.