Richard Ballon

Last Will and Testament

They won’t let me
mention your name.
Any credit has been cut
from obituary, birth
or real estate.
I will, however,
leave the world to you
and let them try
contest that fact
when I’m gone,
and the lawyer
slits the lip
of this sealed kiss.

I give all my land,
my home, my pride
and body to you,
whom I cannot talk of
without mild embarrassment
in academic circles.
I give it all back
to whom I borrowed it from.
Back to you, my Lord,
back to you,
my holy, living God.

    

 
Grasping God

running with a net
through a field
trying to catch the air,
you realize, all your life
you’ve held it in your lungs.

 

The Lie of Scarcity

Each staff of rye
boasts 48 seeds,
and there are several
to the stem.

A single poppy
spawns hundreds.
One broad bean,
seven, nine, eleven.

Economists say
there’s not enough.
They can’t eclipse
the great Amen-

which soars
over fields, scattering bees
which gurgle in the throats
of flowers begging
to give birth

 

Dance With Me, God

Dance with me god,
now that the storm has passed

Dance with me, god,
now that the storm has passed.
Now that the rain no longer
floods my eyes,
dive in the dark
and surface in my point of view.
When I walk, push through my step,
let my foot feel
the earth as its shoe.

Seeing the outside of you
lets me see the arms
that can hold me.
Oh let me take the lead, sometime,
that jitterbug two, and a three.
Surprise me
by hoisting me midair
onto your hip,
long enough to catch my breath.

Love me, like a lover
and let my cock stand proud
as we dance upon the scriptures,
knowing that we, thank god
were born innocent
and are on our way back home.

And that day, when the old
breaks open
and reveals you, god,
all wet and new,
laughing my laugh
joining right hand to left,
I will turn myself
inside out, and washed clean,
I will hang
on the clothesline of your smile.

 

 

Richard Ballon’s work has been performed in New York City at Manhattan Theater Source’s Sola Voces / Estrogenius Festival, Stage Left’s Women at Work, mamadrama and Left Out Festivals, Emerging Artist Theater’s One Man Talking and One Woman Standing, and NativeAlien’s Short Stories 5.  Other work has been performed at The Shea Theater, Turners Falls, Universal Theater, Provincetown, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Out of the Blue Gallery, Cambridge, Devanaughan Theater, Boston, Last Frontier Theater Conference, Valdez, Dylan Thomas Festival, Chicago, Walking the Wire Festival, Iowa City The Inspirato Festival, Toronto and Asphalt Shorts in Kitchener, and ArtHotel, Montreal. Richard is a member of the Dramatist’s Guild.

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