"loss," "12 hour night," "toenails," "the shifting" from Sisyphus Leaves 1992

[mjp]

Split off from a thread by @Pogue Mahone in "First appearances."

 

[Erik]

Toenails is surprisingly good.
Reminds me of my 89 year old mother.
Cutting her toenails is a real hassle for her.
Sometimes she forgets she needs help to do it and has a go on her own.
If unlucky she snips the tip off one of her toes with the clippers.
Blood all over the floor where she walks afterwards.
Getting old is not a glamorous thing.

Buk nailed that part of life as well.

 

[DaPrince34]

The toenails one reminds me of some line where buk talks about the victory or how hard it is just to put your shoes on. I think its in the captains out to lunch.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

He never liked cutting his own toenails. I remember reading several pieces where he always got his girlfriends to do it. I think in one he was worried about who would cut them because he just broke up with a woman.

 

[mjp]

"hail the burning yellow flag" from that issue is also uncollected, so I'm moving it here.

 

[james]

So I was looking through a poetry mag called Poems and Plays from 1997 to compare some buk poems, and it looks like "the 12 hour night" has been Martinized.....

 

[mjp]

Everything in What Matters Most (and every BSP book after that) has been to the dry cleaners.