Fiery Furnaces

Going down Morgan with Janko, Jerko, and Jerry, We downed our Pils, and over at the South Shore, they sipped their sherry. I opened my Kaiserized speller to learn what they know: Nurse killers, annexers-executioners, wo! Hey Slavonians, be ye mindful That...

A night out in the tropics, Turned out I couldn't cope. After the School of Fancy Cookery with Antoinette Pope. I learned brazing and saucing, meringue and sift, knead, flute and flour, each Thursday for an hour. Cobblers and plum cakes, tarts savor...

I woulda had a asthma attack If I seen the shark bite back I woulda had a asthma attack If I seen the shark bite back Yeah it's paradise island I know Yeah yeah yeah I been there before Once, twice, three times maybe Once with my moms and twice with m...

Thanks for asking. Yes it's true, we've been waiting for you. We've been waiting for you. Persuade your husband he should stay at our disposal for today and take down everything we say About the new school bus assistant snuck in change of leaving seven sleep...

As I try to fill all of my empty days, I stumble round on through my memory's maze; of all my past, only the sadness stays. I went moping down by the bridge; I rode a bike in the snow to the mini-mart; I thought of the ways that I've broke my own heart....

I hate the steam train that whistles woozy my bird brain, That sends my spaniel insane. And I’ll stop riding side saddle if they don’t stop the clickity clattle, I’ll jump in the undertow penguin paddle and drown in my wedding gown. I’ve been told the Bron...

I've got a special category business down by the Multifunctional Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Rollerblade Rink-- down by the Home of Bitter Tea. Bitter, bitter, bitter tea; bitter bitter, bitter tea. I've seen you slinking off of snake alley. Why not come...

Darling black-hearted boy, all the color's gone out of my ribbon loom as I've only got the worst to assume. Take your sheet metal sheers; cut a slit up the the side of my dark blue dress; for a last time lie your love confess. Get your gut, some home...

Pontoon put-put with the tape on 10 Dixie cup pink wine in the Labor Day sunshine. I’m sliding the sunfish up through the wakes Coming up too quick, making mistakes. Quiet climb the chrome ladder in the front While they’re all yawning, under the awning....

I was so bored with my old life; I was so bored with decent odds. My new roommate left her debit card: some sort of test for me. It's too hard. Try to run an errand. Nervous sweat. I rush back home and if I win I'll give her half (I bet.) Online casino...

Down in the dumps Me and the seagulls we were looking for lumps They all get scared when off of one of the bumps: jumps I have to clutch I have to tell him his commands all in Dutch He likes his treat but he don't like to touch much I forget to fix h...

On my first day in town we saw the king He was dressed in a suit with a bright blue tie And it matched his eyes And when ours met, I sighed Took a boat or a ferry to an island There were gardens and trees And balloons in the sky And we knew it was rig...

Disregard for how and where and with whom You amuse yourself encourages bad behavior. The Duke, as was appropriate, held himself in high regard, And therefore considered himself in need of encouragement. He expected the people of Madrid render him this...

I wanted to be a typewriter mender when I grew up, But things didn’t work out so. Sleep Late in the morning, climb up Mt. Olympia and replace a Return: But I didn’t get enough good grades. My uncle Peter had the Parthenon Business Machine Remediation outfi...

Later at lunch with the taco lettuce crunch crunch She sets herself apart the bunch. How bad does she seem? She makes me wanna scream. On the phone with the West Glen Ellen rest home Talking up a tattle tome: How bad does she seem? She makes me wanna sc...

Back the bus he cussed “Space suits! Blackened boots! Lad, little Lad,” he sad, “I’ve a tip for you: See, what about me: what about her? What about me?” For five dollars I walked him to his Mom’s And on the threshold he said straight and calm, “See what a...

At 4:00 Just after work I got my check I held my breath The phone wrings tell them I ain't never here The over under Made a blunder I gave my cell phone To my cousin He plays the threats I get to his friends at school I board the dog At Uncle Ni...

How the years have gone. It's come to this. A rose on his lapel, in the open coffin I'd give him a kiss. I have to go up north to play at his funeral, and his wife is there, in some chapel she's picked out, and there's not even an organ! I have to pla...

Don't dance her down boys Don't dance her down Don't dance her down boys Her man's in town I played cards in England I threw dice in Spain I'm going back to England To play cards again Don't dance her down boys Don't dance her down Don't dance he...

In the back of a mini cab Me and Georgie and Nigel and Sadie: “Can I use your mobile? Can I use your mobile, Sadie?” On our way to Shoreditch; Off to Fabric in Shoreditch: Duffer St. George and I don’t care. Duffer St. George and I don’t care. On a...

I went on down to the duplexes of the dead Where the shades are drawn and the shadow’s shut Unless you know the magic word, seldom said but often heard Bite your lip then spin around three times On our honeymoon, my husband sat still With a look in his...

I was wielding my axe Drank whiskey at the bar Every night coming home Out the windshield of my car I would look through my boughs And think I saw my lucky star I was spreading my sheets Took dinner all alone Every night of the week Awaiting for the...

One of those blonde ladies had a certain hold on me. I went to all her seminars by the Airport in the Double Tree. I even let her use nephew's sea plane in the Bahamas for free. But she means nothing to me now. I tell myself that everyday: She means not...

Now, as for my aunt, Who told on me. She was always wearing her turbans. Sailing back to Greece on the Normandy. Having dinner at the captain's table, sitting on the deck with 5 men surrounding her, with uncle Sam in the back row. Back at home, ridi...

Gale, gale blow Gale, gale blow My umbrella can't take it you know Been caught in a hail storm A blizzard tornado's nose But nothing, no nothing Can beat this gale blow 

"Well, good for you. But we have something too." So said my aunt. A bowling alley and lunch counter filled with fellas on their lunch break, from the Western Electric plant at a slant across the street. And next door when So-and-So's men would come in,...

Last day in May the afternoon Remember Black marks of charcoal from the dune Remember I thought it wouldn't be too soon We'll wait at least until it's June The twenty-ninth of March it rained Remember You'd look so sad that I explain Remember You k...

I slit my wrist with my swing line Copied myself 500 times I pierced my ears with a three-hole punch Ate twelve dozen doughnuts for lunch So next week I'ma walk Next week I'ma walk And the week after that I'm gonna run I swam in an Olympic-sized poo...

In my little thatched hut The blue-green grass grows by the brook I lounge and I look (I lounge and I look, I lounge and I look) For my own true love to return To come rowing in his rowboat back I'll go to the flower stall And get a violet to put in m...

In the cracker barrel dumpster I found a bag Red white striped I opened it--gag Mummy day pizarro dressed in a Inca rag Call on in to work quick Tell 'em that I'm seasick Uncle Ricky's schooner's docked Pompano Beach Weigh anchor and me and him each N...

Down at the Shell shed, the boys are picking out the pearls The home I'm in lets the rain get in I bought 22 ounces of the petrol, park, wait at the light I'm never going to make it back in time 'fore Geraldine and me to begin Mr. Rayne in his Japanese Sl...

I pulled my kerchief out of my pocket Wiped my nose and said hello I bought a tambourine at the millennium dome It jangled 2000 times in a row I caught a cold when I was way down south Standing out in the heat Now my eyes are all itchy And I can't tell...

Came a card marked Mason City From my forwarder. Shut the door, don’t let my dad see; Read aloud dear sir: Understanding you account an upright gent- lemen Aetna Life agreed and lent. As agreed, my fee is 2.6 percent. Write again the Riceville widow SA...

…I kicked my dog I was mean to him before I guess that’s why he walked out my door. I really wish I could see him some more. I looked under the mats and I asked all the cats I went to the vet have you heard anything yet My dog was lost but now he’s found...

I never thought it could have happened to me. But on the morning of my eldest daughter's Second wedding, I blacked out. They said it was just stress, but I didn't think so: I couldn't remember the 15 minutes before. A white-haired half Samoan girl from...

I got warnings from jealous friends; Cases of borrowed clothes And a vial of Dramamine from my mother. And she said, "Forget what mom likes 'cause things have changed"; Taught me how to make booze at home: call it "Old Uncle Zeke" and drink it early next...

There's a town I know called Nevers, no Nevers never wasn't was what it weren't. When it wasn't once. Knew Nevers? Knew Nevers? Nothing never I'll ever learnt. There's a village I visit, that's vaguely; Sorta vaguely. Vaguely yes I seem to recall....

I was in Tahoe, on the California side, waiting in the lobby at 665 1/2 Frontage Road when two extra-blond short sleeve button-down white-shirt blue-tie mystery Mormons came in and put this music on: came in and took me by the arm, and as they had me mar...

At last when the choice was neither nor, Bottom of the bay we’re set ashore. Went into town beg what we lack: 200 stripes on horseback. Wearing my yellow coat, Rope tied around my throat: Great green wax candle unlit; Silence! And then the sentence spit...

Forget the dogs and forget the sheep- it's only you who affects me. On the fun fair track road, a helter skelter fall, on my ice skater's bruised knees. Vibrate buzz buzz ring and beep tell me what time is it now. Vibrate buzz buzz ring and beep tell...

Listen, these are not as drunken as you suppose. It might not be 3 o'clock in the morning like it seems: The little children will be prescient. And your young men will see shows, And your old men will dream dreams. I found a typescript double-spaced,...

I had a locket, a little silver charm, Given to me so to keep me out of harm. Canvasing the quayside trying to earn my keep, A killick tore it off my neck and threw it in the deep. And now I'll never, never, never feel like I am safe again And now I'll ne...

But there was one other man with whom I didn't get along. The Bishop would head down, head down to Deerport Station, to see what stars on the silver screen might be seen, or Broadway stage were all the rage, with his black leather autograph book, and h...