The Whole Thing

by CE Chaffin

Originally published on July 1, 2010

is a nimiety of untold proportions,
a whirling globe of radishes, a carnival
with a trillion barkers, a moon braying
at a palm forest, a thousand-eyed politician,
numberless embalmers clutching brake fluid,
a porcine ballerina twirling toward light speed
like a gyroscopic ham, how pumpkin seeds
coat everything, the evaporation of water,
salt crust of a diminishing bog,
carnivorous plants inside a Gorgon wig,
the [...]

Prayer to La Virgen

by CE Chaffin

Originally published on July 1, 2010

La Virgen de Guadalupe’s chintzy frame,
gold tinsel nuggeted with colored lights,
flashes in concert with the cricket outside.
Las Vegas lives too much in Mexico;
I should be accustomed to the glitz.
The people here are poor, the light is rich
and yet this cheezy, plastic abomination
(as if we must re-decorate creation,
send current to the stars, postmark our prayers
with giant [...]