Photos by: D.R. WagnerPeter was a friend of mine and I had the privilege of publishing two of his chapbooks back in the 1960's and early 1970's. Peter who taught at a number of Universities has since died but I love this exercise and use it often. The first and last lines are given as is number of lines.
Myra Orgain
Neon Passion in the Beer Alley
For centuries lovers have looked to the stars,
Sharing each others thoughts and who they are
Intertwined in electric fire, they melt
Into the plasma pools of their voyeur hosts,
But not before capturing a keepsake or two;
The blinking companions of their occult adventure
Trapped in a bottle, those galaxies spin and twirl
And even still when Time renders it lost,
Forgotten by a supermarket in California,
Then found, by a miserable, unsuspecting tramp,
Whose curious tongue lapped cosmic substance
Which sent him spinning and twirling,
Intoxicated with a newfound ecstasy
In his ardor, he scavenged the alleys
Desperate and lusting after unworldly pleasures
When at last he stumbled upon the source
To his misfortune, however, moments too late as
The three-legged dog chased the beer truck out of town.
Amir Begovic
Mute Toot
For centuries lovers have looked to the stars
But my eyes were transfixed straight ahead
The night could be described as simply dead
But its presence could be felt
Whispering to myself, I knelt
Hackles rising as time ran forwards
Veins not working properly, in chords
Breath came out, hesitantly and fumbling
Eyes floating and peering all around me
And yet none could see
The treachery little critter that was here
Pretending and kneeling so as not to be queer
I knew, but what could I do
I was just another chump no one hears
No difference I could make to hinder
To confront and maybe stop the downfall
As a child I was read a story where
The three-legged dog chased the beer truck out of town
Coralie Donkers
Patterns
For centuries lovers have looked to the stars
Painting the Mona Lisa’s of their generation
as their fingers trace constellations
in grass-thick spidersilk
For centuries we have searched for life on Mars
Sending robots to do the dirty work
And publishing sappy articles
Pouring rich sugar-milk into our brains
For centuries kings have traveled from afar
Bringing gifts for those they treasure
Yet harboring tricks up their sleeves
To rack up a dirty pile of faded paper
For centuries bachelors have hooked up at bars
Serenading vulnerable women with promises
Of silhouette sunsets and red wine dinners.
Instead they end up on the bed of his pickup
Sharing warm beers, cold tears and watched as
The three-legged dog chased the beer truck out of town.
Marie Cases
Not another mafia story
For centuries, lovers have looked to the stars.
But not Lawrence and Dani
Those two preferred the bars
and their bartender Giuliani.
Anyway, G was bullied,
Everyday, by the mafia.
And G was tired of their greed.
His stress gave him insomnia.
“What's wrong?” L and D would ask.
Reluctantly, he explained.
They come, a beer truck as a mask,
beat him up and keep him retained
until he gave up his monies.
So L and D lent him their dog,
He barked and bit and ate bunnies!
And one of his legs was a log.
Next time the boss man came around
The three-legged dog chased the beer truck out of town.
Alexandra Dempsey
"Disillusioned"
For centuries lovers have looked to the stars
Fathers and mobsters have chewed on cigars
Children chase ice cream trucks, puppies chase cars
For centuries tabloids have looked to the stars
In an old twist, that Ol’ Scratch drove a truck
Crossing all crossroads with cases of beer
He’s got his fingers in all of our groceries
Our hallowed ice cream man hardly appears
Lovers for centuries retold their stories
Fathers bought ice cream, forgetting to pay
Mobsters made murders and called them their glories
Teenagers left fallen cones in their wake
Dog lost a leg in the chase; it was gory
Tabloids for centuries made up their stories
The three-legged dog chased the ice cream out of town
Why are we surprised to find a loss has brought us down
Nobody’s content to let the devil take the crown
The three-legged dog chased the beer truck out of town
Benjamin Steinher
18 lines from here to there
For centuries lovers have looked to the stars,
everyday, seeing the same rotation of
constellations, appearing and disappearing with the seasons.
A mythological battle between Gods,
all giving birth to different personalities,
vagueness and complexity existing in unison.
Looking closer, a two-dimensional scatter-plot
can become three-dimensional, layered upon each other
in a four-dimensional universe.
But they never taught us to be different
in school, we just looked up to the stars
and saw a fortune cookie with no explanation
of the words, “you are unique.”
I can’t hear the two on my shoulders
over the voice from within, telling me
the world is perplexing, however,
never become perplexed by it.
An animal of knowledge, but overridden with habits
training pets to sit while we can’t stand,
too intoxicated to realize the
the three-legged dog chased the beer truck out of town.
Sam Reisman
Progression:
For centuries lovers have looked to the stars,
and for even longer, stars have smiled down,
watching unfortunate events and progressions unfold,
an omnipotent audience in an eternal cinema.
Rarely is this theatre even considered,
for our earthly thoughts occupy much smaller arenas
thoughts forced into cages, strangled by worldly problems.
It is said that cornered animals are the fiercest
The same must be true for cornered minds.
There must be some escape,
a bottle cracked, another drink.
Alcoholism slips in stealthily, through those cracks.
Violence follows malevolently, snickering to itself
As loneliness hits the wino, relief must be at hand
In the form of a pet, relief is found
the dog only wants the cage to expand
be proactive, get rid of the antagonist
The three-legged dog chased the beer truck out of town.
Charisse Bongoo
Sweet Love
For centuries lovers have looked to the stars
Some look to the heavens above
Others look to the stars in boxes
Those stars are the sweetest of all
Some are milk chocolate
And others are just plain dark
Lovers exchange boxes of chocolate
It is a symbol of romance
Belles will swoon with delight
And will love her suitor more with each bite
But if the wrong present it presented
Then he may lose her forever
Don't get her the mutated mutt
Don't get her beer from the truck
Lovers must remember each other's worth
As the men chase the women
And the women chase the chocolate
The three-legged dog chased the beer truck out of town.
Stephanie Hoogstad
The Best Judges of Character
For centuries lovers have looked to the stars.
What they find there is sometimes unpleasant,
Like Mary Sue, who desperately loved
A beer truck driver named Stu
And owned a three-legged dog who bit Stu
Whenever the man came to town.
Mary Sue and Stu were to be married
Under the full moon in May,
But Mary Sue was having her doubts,
For how could she marry a man
Who her beloved dog despised?
One night she looked to the sky
And asked if Stu loved her,
Only to have the moon covered by clouds.
The next day the omen came true,
For she saw Stu sleeping with another woman;
She let her dog lose on Stu, and
The three-legged dog chased the beer truck out of town.
Krinjal Mathur
For centuries lovers have looked to the stars
Wondering where their lives will take them
Would they be near or far
Praying that the celestial will guide them
If the stars foretold they would be forever apart
Their hearts will yearn for each other
At every corner searching for the other
The figure ingrained in their mind
Rather if their union was cosmically prophesied
Their hands would be connected as one
Continuously in step with each other
Looking towards their bright future
Desiring the quintessential American dream
With the white picket fence, two kids and a cat
Family trips to the market
Creating lifelong loving memories
Only to see to their left
The three-legged dog chasing the beer truck out of town
Sean Gaffney
Searching
For centuries lovers have looked to the stars
With a dewy eyed hope for an answer
To that famous – or is it infamous? – question:
Who knows how to make love stay?
Tonight, go outside and look at the stars
And look at the lovers. And think.
Answer me this question. Answer me my question.
I have pondered and queried and searched and studied.
Nothing comes. I don’t know why the love left.
But it left, leaving you on one side, me on the other of
A chasm so deep, so wide, filled with anger and tears and bitter words.
I sit here, every day, and think – why?
Why can’t I understand? Why can’t I find an answer?
How can love just vanish? Is it like a light switch,
Just waiting to be turned on or off?
I don’t know. So all I can do is sit at my window
and think and watch as that damned
three legged dog chases the beer truck out of town.
Ethan Katznelson
Living Under the Stars
For centuries lovers have looked to the stars
Looking for answers to the questions
That we still ask today
And will still ask tomorrow
And the day after that
And long after those stars have lost their sheen
No longer illuminating the heavens
With their fiery passion and fury
But today we no longer look to the stars
There is too much sadness right here
To arch our necks and look into the heavens
Why should we look up?
Stuck in a world of hatred and hunger
And yet, we live on
The dog may have lost his leg but he still fights on
Living life one day at a time
As he knows best, as he knows how
The three-legged dog chased the beer truck out of town
Kevin Dumler
Maniacs
For centuries lovers have looked to the stars.
Now they are mostly ignored,
Outside of web pages with satellite images.
I try to look at the stars, but I usually forget.
I try again tonight, away from the light of large cities.
Frustrated with the lack of excitement,
I go to the old town in York, Maine.
Where my aunt has a three-legged dog.
He was at the pound for a while,
Until my aunt adopted his three legs.
He enjoys running around at her house.
But tonight we go to old town with the dog.
There a lot of people from other states there.
New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts.
Mainers despise Massholes.
Massachusettsans despise Maniacs.
A Sam Adams delivery truck drives by.
The three-legged dog chased the beer truck out of town.
Albert Hsieh
Constraints
For centuries lovers have looked to the stars.
They are beautiful and thought provoking
Bringing lovers closer to each other.
Except for one, as they never left their house
As they would always argue for days on
And were constrained by each other’s lives.
Both of them would drink themselves to sleep every night,
Trying to drown out the noise their partner would make.
Everyone in town knew of this,
And even tried to make sure they didn’t get their beer.
Their three-legged dog had it worse,
As it was neglected by the couple who were always drunk,
And he would sit in the corner of the room, watching the couple argue.
But one day, there were no arguments in the house.
It appears that the couple had finally drunken themselves to death.
The dog, which still loved its owners despite his situation, knew the reason,
And as the beer truck pulled up to the house that morning,
The three-legged dog chased the beer truck out of town
Michael Arbeed
“The Guardian”
For centuries lovers have looked at the stars
after having met in seedy bars
But as these two turned their eyes to the sky
A three legged dog passed them by
It had no collar, it had no home
As a loving couple, they wouldn’t let him roam
Hand in hand, they carried him back
Little did they know, things would turn black
This dog wasn’t what he appeared to be
For he would be their end, you see
So the dog enacted his “evil plan”,
The chores took their toll, and the girl left the man
For many a day, the man wept,
And for many a night he barely slept
He turned to the bottle, like so many before
And thanks to the beer truck, there was always more
But the dog couldn’t bear to watch his master drown,
The three legged dog chased the beer truck out of town.
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