Poetry Pub

Here at the Poetry Pub you will find examples of the poetry of Jeff Reeve. Some of the poems will include illustrations, either photos or art works. In some cases the illustration inspired the poem, and in some the poem inspired the illustration. Creativity has many outlets and inlets.           

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flat tire 

   

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    photo by Jeff Reeve
     

     

     

     

     
  • god damn
    said the delivery man
    the left tire is flat
    on my bicycle
    if it were the right
    then maybe he could be a knight
    in his own way
    to deliver the pizza
    of pepperoni and sardines
    to that mother
    with three kids
    and two drooping boobs
    as he remembers with a chuckle
    her left
    is a little deflated too

    god damn
    the left tire is flat
    he tries an air pump
    with a squeaky pull
    that reminds him of his wife talking
    in the bedroom
    about the squirrels
    peeking in the window
    while she undresses
    she doesn’t tell him how much
    enjoyment she felt from the attention
    as if she was on a stage performing
    imagining she is still desirable

    god damn
    the left tire on the bicycle
    is flat
    maybe
    he thinks
    maybe
    it’s an omen
    maybe
    he should look at things
    differently
    maybe
    from the other side
    so he circles to his right
    head down
    hands in his pockets
    scuffing the ground with his shoes
    pondering in his wandering
    analyzing in his conundrum
    then
    just as he concludes the puzzle solved
    he looks up
    back at the bike

    god damn
    the right tire is flat
    on my bicycle

     

     Jeff Reeve


Links to Books of Interest

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they don't serve beer here:
and other depressing thoughts

Jeff Reeve

A hodgepodge collection of poems that opens with a tribute to one of my favorite poet and ends with reflections on the EF-5 tornado that devastated Joplin, Missouri in May 2011. The poems in between may speak of anything: love, politics, sex, and maybe a dog or a flower or an elevator.

A Coney Island of the Mind

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

The title of this book is taken from Henry Miller's "Into the Night Life" and expresses the way Lawrence Ferlinghetti felt about these poems when he wrote them during a short period in the 1950's—as if they were, taken together, a kind of Coney Island of the mind, a kind of circus of the soul.

These Are My Rivers: New & Selected Poems, 1955-93

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

"one of our ageless radicals and true bards" (Booklist), has gathered here four decades of poetry in his inimitable everyman’s voice, including more than fifty pages of new work.

Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame

Charles Bukowski

Poetry full of gambling, drinking and women. Charles Bukowski writes realistically about the seedy underbelly of life..

The Pleasures of the Damned: Poems, 1951-1993

Charles Bukowski

A selection of the best works of Bukowski’s later years, edited by John Martin of Black Sparrow Press, including the last of his new, never-before-published poems.

MoonStain

Ronda Miller

In this collection of poetry, Miller weaves stories of life, death, and love through her poetry, primarily narrative in form. From glimpses of her childhood home on her grandparents’ farm to images of a woman’s life, her loves, her losses, we learn of life’s stains, of moments that shape and become a part of one woman’s voice.

Paper Birds Don't Fly

Al Ortolani

A mix of small town memories and present day realities. They share both humor and sorrow, longing and contentment, often in the irony of a single experience. Many are set in Southeastern Kansas, a geographical region rich in the texture of its free-thinking people. The poems pinch the mundane arm. They bleed with the colors of everyday experience

Cataloguing Pain

Allison Blevins

Explores motherhood, sexuality, and queerness as it juxtaposes the author's diagnosis of MS with her partner's gender transition. As one body moves toward unfamiliarity, a state of chronic pain, a sense of being caged, the other is escaping pain, emerging into its true self, becoming free.

 

Come enjoy an evening of poetry downtown, at the Joplin Avenue Coffee Company on the third Monday of February, March, April, and September, October, November. Located at 506 S. Joplin Ave., Joplin, Missouri.  Starting at 6:00pm with an invited, published poet reading some of their poetry. Then at about 7:00pm there is an open microphone for anyone with a desire to share a poem or more. Sign up for one of the ten, five minute slots.


WHO I AM

I am Jeff Reeve, a professional writer, poet, and photographer. I reside in Joplin, Missouri.

GET IN TOUCH
jareeve@thecrackedjar.com
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