SAMM COHEN. HEYOKA MAGAZINE

steps of drained carcasses

greed gleams
bright in nights like this
when the moon brings only empty silence
a new coin
shiny nickel headed
with presidents beside
pecking sideways clutching arrows
polish your capitalism
on my cherry dripping tongue
turn to your pretty purse
fancy cars
steel arm ties
as soldier’s waste away
I slope alone under brash tungsten lamps
parted from my starfilled dreams
if I am the only one to care
can I bother to
be concerned with anyone else
rows of vacated souls whisper

Samm Cohen

6/1/04

Comet Burst

this growing well inside of me
feels planetary in scale
giddy thoughts
I was compelled to share my
moon with you
to reflect upon
this glowing light
and these cratered fields
in orbit
I tried to hold
what gravity held
with no guiding warmth
no light of a star
doomed to collide
till there was only particle sized dust
left swirling around this black hole
growing inside of me

Samm Cohen
6/16/03

To Whom It May Concern

On denim blue nights

of fluid cloud gestures

and steak filled air,

I've accepted chunky fingered hands.

Broad shoulders hover

in the distance

and leave their saliva at the door.

I breathe Vegas commotion.

Red neon arteries

illuminate my vessel beats

forty times each minute and a half

glowing urgencies

When I contemplate

your head filling the dents in my lap,

coarse worn hair

on the back of your arm rubbing

the spots where hes have been

to comfort.

Cruel gregarious nightfall

sparing no starless smog,

Masturbating metropolitan herds

to cartooned exaggerations;

Child fantasies distort

in traffic jams and florescent lighting.

Still

I wait on Maria's fire escape balcony

reciting lyric sheets

tip toe alone

and exhale frost bitten kisses--

Chilled longings for sanctuary in

warmth smothered breasts.

A silent womb forever.

Tarot dream

of carpenters and blacksmiths

to fix this space,

Your fill of time

I would sip

As slow as possible.

Samm Cohen

2/26/96

conscious liner

between this shadow I long

for silent moments

without disappearing into the seams

these words they

trap

the smog

the light

and me

am I selfish

am I prideful

am I deliriously foolish

that I wear this pale hued melancholy

across my façade

streaming loud in seas of

lucid puzzles

my see through game

onion skin

linking blood and rouge

to form not a ruby red flawless

something so less defined

fills in these creases

paints my lips

till I cant tell

where the makeup halts

and I begin

is there a path

through this running liner

on this cold soil

of natural pains

where I don’t

we don’t

feel betrayed

cause Im blotting out what makes

me different

becoming one with all the

din of dummied souls

powered faces

blending into tungsten light

You and I and Them, Never Us

war games

we play

you and I

as we watch

countries fall apart

violence tear the souls of each

till we are left barefooted

and hungry with hostility

grieving with loathe

looming ventricles bang

loud booms so ruddy

in thoughts of the enemy

taught to hate

parents, priest

and presidents too

marching toe to heel

follow the leader

we learned that in school

to have compassion for one

without compassion

is so hard

and who will want to make that move

the games we play

to avoid being played

knight in check

stalemated rusty armor

artery red

there is no picturesque honor

in brittle overused hinges

how can we bend first

with no assurance

of tomorrow

so we cast our angry votes

as to ducks in the brook

gobbling disease with indifference

lame like pheasants in the herd

and quack so loudly

to make the loss less

with fury craving

so marred inside

we fight each other

about everything

refuse to think

of any other way

taught to hate

you and I

we play

war games

Samm Cohen

05/18/04

WWW.SAMMCOHEN.COM



Greed Lick

Pull your coins out, my naïve pupil
For there is always somber something to learn
And you should pay me for the lesson

And all these leftover shells
are no more than wishes in s fountain
successless metal plunges

I will swallow them complete
lap my sweet pink tongue around
so soft spiting
carcasses of nobodies
unevolved dna in this darwinist game

All those Ive tasted and crushed along the way
weigh nothing
when I am lion faced
little lamb, you are valueless
grey snd undefined like stepping stones

As I stide along tiered backs
my eyes flicker viridian madness
and I know

that if I stop no less briefly
than to lick the shine off your face
pressing a pennies worth upon you,
I may become another drone
on the underside of this scale of greed


Samm Cohen
1/23/04

Star Foe

She hid in the afternoon.

And tried to pass off heartache as the lazies

prostrate till dusk

lashes bowed to the great sun

and kept their distance from his warmth.

She kept her flesh beneath

3 layers of perfumed wisdom

and repeated the lessons

aloud on her skin,

Secret longings

for heated sensation

but cadmium stales;

It was better like this

slowly fading brightness down

better than the loud boom

visible to all

that the daylight would bring.

Samm Cohen

11/07/03