Russ Cope and The Wild Outlaw Poetry Dogs

Russ Cope used to be a custodian.  Now he tends bar, rants, and writes.  He lives in Virginia with a pack of wild dogs that might turn on him at any moment.

Wires Cross

I try to communicate
but the wires have
shut down
I am nothing but a blink
a page that won't respond

So I have to decide
Stay on the page
Remove the page
Kill the page.

Online living is filled
with such uneasy
decisions.

...

Fang

Today we found a tooth
made of stone, impressed in rock.
It’s probably the earliest known
specimen of fang, long before
we were walking out of the soup
and learning how to devour
each other.

I imagine I could build a whole
animal around this one piece,
just start with the tooth
and go from there, slapping on skin,

hair, jewelry, neuroses, and therapy.

...

BodyHuman

Members of the same
species.
We flaunt, we fawn, we
put forward our best mask.
The one we think is most
fitting the moment.
The one our grandmother
gave us.
After all, granny can’t be
wrong.
There is one thing I have
learned about this
BodyHuman
and it is that we are, at
root, disappointing creatures,
distracted by shiny objects.


Bourbon

The way my life
works looks better
through a dark glass,
half filled with bourbon,
neat

My sixteen year old
daughter won't talk to me,
I once had a dream

Now I sit with voices
from old yellow pages
behind a bar, worried
about breaking up fights.

"Bourbon" by Thomas L. Vaultonburg

Plug

They want me
to make a decision
today about a plug.
What am I supposed
to say to that?
I do not even want
to try to pick up
wounded sparrows.
Life does not need
to be in my trembling
hands.