Elegy For A Paper Shrine

by Maurice Oliver

In this scenario everyone wants a snip from prosperity’s
true vine. The women use their thumbs to cover the
sun while reclining on davenports balled-up in a
bedspread. The men weight the beast of
their nest eggs determined by the
jewelweed of marriage. Beads
of life’s sweat turn into
real beads then into
white grapes
of wrath in a crystal
bowl. Any old paper cut
can be the court jester as long
as the flame-thrower gets the publishing
rights. Pennies that don’t except buy-out deals
are placed on a busy railway line to be severed in half.
Even the live audience must have a paucity of orchestral
knowledge. All the world wants to know is if it will be rich or
if it will be poor. The answer is behind door #2, where a
paper shrine welcomes the homeless then years later
admits to having a flesh-eating heart. Blue lilies
into a lace handkerchief. A wool blanket’s
inordinately long nap. And it’s the
queen who must decide if the
knight is properly dressed
for battle. First, he
must wear a
forget-me-not cloak
and have figs in his beard.
O yeah, and he is not allowed
to let the water for the tea boil away.
Of course, exceptions are made if he is blind.
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After almost a decade of working as a freelance photographer in Europe, Maurice Oliver returned to America in 1990. Then, in 1995, he made a life-long dream reality by traveling around the world for eight months. But instead of taking pictures, he recorded the experience in a journal which eventually became poems. And so began his desire to be a poet. His poetry has appeared in numerous national and international publications and literary websites including Potomac Journal, Pebble Lake Review, Taj Mahal Review (India), Dandelion Magazine (Canada), Stride Magazine (UK), and online at thievesjargon.com, interpoetry.com (UK), kritya.com (India), and blueprintreview.de (Germany). His forth chapbook, "One Remedy Is Travel" was published in August '07 at Origami Condom. He is the editor of Concelebratory Shoehorn Review. He lives in Portland, Oregon, where he works as a private tutor.