Featuring Rob Plath

non-ghosts

i own two spoons
one was my grandmother’s
& one was my mother’s
the spoons of ghosts

i remember as a boy
digging w/a spoon
searching for something

i know all too well what’s
beneath the earth now

sometimes i want to scoop
the gray pulp from my skull
like carving a pumpkin 

today i stir the soup
& feed the cat
w/the pair of spoons

& sit there quietly
happy we’re both
non-ghosts

_________________________________________________

BENEATH MY BOYHOOD ROOF

when the cursing began
beneath my boyhood roof
i’d retreat to the cedar chest

i’d lie down on top
of all the linens
close the large lid
& stay there for hours

it muffled the screaming
the shattering glass
& knuckles thru walls

i was like a five year-old vampire
but my bane was blood

__________________________________________________

Body Bag Nation

the masses,
the so-called living
don’t know it
but they’re
actually dead

each zipped up
w/in their skin 

a nation
full of flesh
body bags 

equipped 
w/eye-holes
to pretend
they see

& mouth-holes
to emit bullshit
& nose-holes
to waste precious
fucking air

_____________________________________

MY SOUNDTRACK

when i was 10 years old i bought 
a tape recorder at a garage sale
& i went in my bedroom & shut the door
away from the crazy fighting going on
beneath other parts of the roof
& listened to my little black radio
for hours, waiting for certain songs
to capture on my new machine
i remember i had joyously recorded
“wild horses” by the rolling stones
& zeppelin’s “the rain song”
& a bunch of other favorites
but in the morning when i happily rose
& played my sacred tape back
i heard the shrieking & the curses
from my own house in the background
the hell was burned onto my magic tape 
they’d even managed to corrupt
my beautiful fucking escape

________________________________________________

THE TRUCE

i remember a certain day when i was 4 years old

i remember my brother threw a lamp

i remember how it broke on my sister's leg

i remember how she screamed 

i remember the holes in her walls

i remember the accusation YR A WHORE!

i remember the retort FUCK YOU!

i remember my mother & brother & sister 

all screaming at once 

i remember how it drove me off the couch

where i was trying to sleep

i remember shutting my eyes & running w/my fist out

i remember screaming BE QUIET! 

i remember the sound when my hand went thru 

the windowpane of the front door

i remember how they all stopped

i remember my mother whispering: 

See what you made him do? 

i remember a sudden calmness

i remember one of them examining my tiny fist 

i remember the others sweeping up the glass 

i remember the trio apologizing over & over

i remember being smart enough to keep it a secret 

that i had not meant to shatter the glass

i remember the piece of cardboard

taped over the empty frame 

i remember my hand in a bandage

i remember the red seeping thru the gauze 
i remember the brief but beautiful truce


Bio:

ROB PLATH IS A 45-YEAR-OLD POET FROM NEW YORK.  A FORMER STUDENT OF ALLEN GINSBERG, HE HAS PUBLISHED HUNDREDS OF POEMS IN THE SMALL PRESSES.  HE HAS EIGHT CHAPBOOKS OUT: ASHTRAYS AND BULLS  (LIQUID PAPER PRESS 2003), AN IV BAG FULL OF BILE  (SCINTILLATING PUBLICATIONS 2007), WHISKEY AND CLAY  (PUDDING HOUSE PUBLICATIONS 2008), SQUEEZING BLOOD FROM THE ALPHABET  (ERBACCE PRESS 2008), TAPPING ASHES IN THE DARK (LUMMOX PRESS 2008), THERE'S A LITTLE HOBO IN MY HEART WHO FOREVER GIVES THE FINGER TO HUMANITY  (D/E/A/D/B/E/A/T PRESS), NICOTINE SCRIBBLINGS FROM A HAMMOCK IN THE VOID (GOOD JAPAN PRESS 2009 ) AND TREE KILLER INK ISSUE #4  ( 39 POEMS BY ROB PLATH). HIS FIRST FULL-LENGTH BOOK IS A BELLYFUL OF ANARCHY  PUBLISHED BY EPIC RITES PRESS IN 2009. HIS SECOND FULL-LENGTH BOOK OF POETRY THERE'S A FIST DUNKED IN BLOOD BEATING IN MY CHEST  WAS RELEASED IN 2010 BY EPIC RITES PRESS  AND A THIRD POETRY COLLECTION DEATH IS DEAD  WAS RELEASED IN BY EPIC RITES PRESS IN 2012. IN 2014, EPIC RITES PRESS RELEASED ROB'S FIRST CHILDREN'S BOOK HEARTS FOR BRAINS AND IN 2015, THEY RELEASED HIS CUTTING EDGE CREATIVE WRITING EXERCISE BOOK CALLED AN AX FOR THE FROZEN SEA. ROB'S FIRST NOVELLA SWALLOWTUDE WILL BE OUT IN 2016 UNDER EPIC RITES PRESS.  AND THERE IS MORE STUFF IN THE WORKS.  

More poems by Rob Plath:

10 June 2022: