VODKA

Don'tcha love
potato farmers?
Tilt up
the glass
& taste
Fyodor's blood,
Mayakovsky's phlegm,
the drip
of Turgenev,
the mad laugh
of Gogol,
the fever & grace
of Baryshnikov,
Vygotsky's reach...
The liquid breath
is clean
anger
only clouded
by rants
of those possessed
by a holy negation;
too holy
to be written,
too sacred
for screed,
balancing a universe
drunk
on its axis
& lonely
for its
children.

Norman Savage
Greenwich Village, 2017

TAKING YOUR TEMPERATURE

"ABOVE ALL, AVOID FALSEHOOD, EVERY KIND OF FALSEHOOD, ESPECIALLY FALSEHOOD TO YOURSELF, WATCH OVER YOUR OWN DECEITFULNESS AND LOOK INTO IT EVERY HOUR, EVERY MINUTE."
--Dostoyevsky

Fyodor!
What a pain in the ass you are!
Walking around with a rectal thermometer
between the cheeks
and sniffing it
every few seconds! Christ!
Ain't there any other way???

Sorry, nyet.

Shit, you're sorry. I'm sorry and
I gotta find a drugstore that's open.

Take your time. Take your time.
Not too many have ever been sold.
Not very many want to smell their smell
or
are even able to. (And don't forget
the Vaseline--treat yourself
kindly).

Norman Savage
Greenwich Village, 2016