Song of the Genie

/ Issue 13.1 /

I lake the drought.
………..I bake flood off again.
I make fools rich enough
………..that for a while
they fool the rich enough
………..to dictate style.
I beautify. I muscle up.
………..I thin.
I pheromone.
………..I woo. I violin
the mood. I penthouse suite
………..and private isle.
I ease death out of view,
………..but never smile,
and only everlast
………..what’s always been.

The books and movies
………..are confused of course.
It’s my warm, timeworn rag
………..that rubs your mind
to force the rank wish free:
………..voracious, blind,
and magnetized
………..to bankruptcy, divorce…
exhaust fumes primed
………..into the past due Porsche.
At last I’d grant you you,
………..and you decline.

George David Clark

George David Clark

George David Clark is an assistant professor of English and creative writing at Washington & Jefferson College. His Reveille (Arkansas, 2015) won the Miller Williams Prize and his recent poems can be found in AGNI, The Georgia Review, The Gettysburg Review, Image, The Southern Review, and elsewhere. The editor of 32 Poems, he lives in Washington, Pennsylvania.
George David Clark

Also by George David Clark (see all)

Author: George David Clark

George David Clark is an assistant professor of English and creative writing at Washington & Jefferson College. His Reveille (Arkansas, 2015) won the Miller Williams Prize and his recent poems can be found in AGNI, The Georgia Review, The Gettysburg Review, Image, The Southern Review, and elsewhere. The editor of 32 Poems, he lives in Washington, Pennsylvania.