Scared Witless

" Scared Witless "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom
& Mom-Mom Suzán

Scared witless
parked
between cars
like hard
copy
arms and armor
as modern
costumes

in office spaces
for scholars
scrappy
and expansive
beheld
in the lower
right hand

attesting to tension
fingers clenched
like valued lessons
brought together
as snail shells
body and neck
at the center
over the millennia

becoming preoccupied
by equipping the dead
for the afterlife
like carved white
alabaster statues

commandingly
ravishing
tiny, standing
as schematic
stone jackals
with granite falcons
and hippo amulets
worn as protection
for the pregnant
in the fourth millennium

carefully chipped out of flint
with a penchant
for Pharaonic perfection
manifested
in neither lament
nor celebration
midstep...

Revamped and Rewritten

" Revamped and Rewritten "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom
& Mom-Mom Suzán

Revamped and rewritten
after years of refinishing
not entirely 'n' mostly
silently like meanwhiles
in omnivorous styles

under the monikers
of matriarch and artist
remaining largely
in the shadows
little noticed
in small roles
for go-to unknowns

while riding
the coattails
of an indie band
combining rare
travels backwards

in brass-borne
melodies gleaming
preparing for
the hereafter
by barely blaring
into thin air...

Tentatively Titled

" Tentatively Titled "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom
& Mom-Mom Suzán

Tentatively titled
"Shifted to a Diamond"
in a diagrammed deal
in high gear
spanning the flaps
front and back
long after
snobbish first class

head scratching
and not wearing
underwear
as the decades pass
like life-in-over-drive
blooming sideways
with the fresh insights
of rising prices
and never minds
slanted hardly
to the right

as castings bear
signatures in riotous
copper and terra-cotta
around a blond lock
as a mourning piece
in the genealogy
of the deceased

assuaging grief
like celestial bodies
carefully sardonic
with little levers
at the bottom
dislodged by cosmic
throttles
in a monumental frieze
of bas-relief

indisputably beautiful
as classically human nudes
looming in sun-filled rooms
of caramel hues festooned
with blooms of blue...

Bulk Up the Images

" Bulk Up the Images "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom
& Mom-Mom Suzán

Bulk up the images
with night visions
solid to rigid
despite wistful
lineages
of faint family
histories

as grand anatomy
looking somewhat stodgy
with new-found knowledge
dragging on and on

fostered in da Bronx
while wearing
a brooch with a lock
of a dead relative's hair

like an unworn bauble
identifying loss
after patting
the head and nose
of a former owner
and volunteering
for the job
of keeping it
polished

while snaking into a prodigal
left arm in a starburst
with pearls in the words,
" Prepare to Follow "
on urns with garnets

lying under glass compartments
close to your heart as the opulence
of a pocket watch from the estate
of a chronicler cast in bronze
after passing on...

Flaws Found

" Flaws Found "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom
& Mom-Mom Suzán

Flaws found
encountered
as snags
in redundant
translations
thought
to be rare

like nefarious
mishaps backed
by austerity packages
as a large part
of captured documents
in a hospital
for factory farmers

raised by a lower
numbers of shares
outstanding
engaged in wholly
new ways
with old expectations
in loan modifications

while giants
study the ideas
of righting benign
satellites
after billions
of bites on trial

like the over-excited
bills to ban insiders online
built to survive an entire
wiretap of The Bill of Rights
despite galvanizing riots
by belt-tighteners

taking on the trappings
of a rally while dressing badly
and pleading unfamiliarity
as manic personalities

like the most chaotic responses
to over-the-top remarks
made by busybodies and charlatans
by curbing hospitals
led by lobbyists

including bombings
in contrast to other parts
of sovereignty
locked in fire-bombed
compartments
of regional conflicts
like coming of age
as sitcoms on laptops...

Hunting for Money

" Hunting for Money "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom
& Mom-Mom Suzán

Hunting for money
under rubrics
that seem obvious
with little guidance
for verifiable
highbrow satire

while biting
through two-
inch thick
hippopotamus hide
with fragments
of papyrus
as evidenced
by archives

with little
or no dialogue
like mesmerized
fireflies
in pulsing, zipping
steaks
after a few beats

like currencies
displayed
in a contagion
in the virtrines
of museums
as colloquies
of incompatible
meanings

like date-night
activities
with card tricks
up our sleeves
and the love
of French cuisine

while policing salaries
of would-be leaders
available for the needy
in Brasher Doubloons
and pop-up dollars
for behavioral economists...

Why Not See If and How

" Why Not See If and How "

by Suzán Jiván

Why not see if and how
as a now-you-see-it-now-
you-don't ethos inside-and-out
while impersonating a town
on a frayed green couch

featuring laminate
and a fruit-bowl cast
as a stone-clad
table lamp
in a natural landscape
of split-level intimacy

intentionally low-key
like nuts and berries
visited frequently
on a recent evening
inserted between beams
of industrial steel

completely mirrored
in an interior
with a really rich
water-gilt finish
as a venue for dinner

drawn to a bar cart
in the sparkling
corner of an apartment
appearing more common
as a sift spot falling apart
out of the slots of a barnyard

pivoting smartly clip-clopping
in a trot where salve is a star
like a wacky wand requiring polish
for twisted bristles pure and simple
as a fifth composition hinting
at eyelids applied on the lips
as medicinal ethnicity sold in a stick
with just the right hint for stand-ins

mingling in a tangling battleground
of free-lance mascara and a kick
in the pants after changing hands
with strappy sandals, loose tanks
and chambray on an eighth day
only halfway in dismay
crew necked and gingham spread...

Carefully Posed

" Carefully Posed "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom
& Mom-Mom Suzán

Carefully posed
impeccably dressed
as identically
staged protests
of already photogenic
veterans quickly spreading
like inflamed sentiments

in immense gestures
of long-term effects
of undocumented duress
as remnants of seperateness
at the present up to the neck

totally unexpected
yet still poetic
similarly trending
toward light-detecting
antennae over entrances
for severed attendees
in two bodies highly organized
as compare-and-contrast pairings

spanning accompanying
smoky colors suggesting stucco
in the bulk of sculpted stuffed
animals floating up
onto levered pedestals
like cheerful trends
of momentary vents
becoming harder to reassemble
from what's left
of antiseptic precedents...

Ushered into a Fog

" Ushered into a Fog "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom
& Mom-Mom Suzán

Ushered into a fog
with distorted guitars
towards sweating it off
like plastic water
coiled long before
rejoined aggressive forms
of loyalty from artificial froth

in an oddball discourse
with bogus dirty talk
twisted, distorted
smarting and all-absorbing
like a punch to the groin
from a gyrating audience

with the skill and force
of digressing causes
pitchforking
like ordinariness
through glass walls
of love and loss
in storage

as allegories
for "could bes"
rife with poverty
on the streets
of primary means
rearing up hideously
in dematerialized
mirrorings
of flickering
urgings
taken on faith...

Plated with Ivory

" Plated with Ivory "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom
& Mom-Mom Suzán

Plated with ivory
on one side
and pink mother-
of-pearl on the other
one-upping each other
painting by number

then redacting what happens
by blackening out
sculptures that answer back
after running around
trivially tragic sneeze-guard glass
in anti-climactic rallies
being wrapped in clear plastic
after losing track of hallelujah

as large-scale happenstance
resembling color-saturated
stained glass up subway stairs
passing as a man
with a semi- abstract mustache
staying intact over the last
clear passages
on an unfinished canvas
of a dancer playing ukulele
in s sharply defined caste
after conquering other lands

with tickets still available
on the skids in tandem
with thick tip jars for mannequins
in trailer parks
swinging from gymnastic rings
with nosebleeds
by going for the gold
and weighing in like bold
okey-dokes
poised to boil over
with loaded dice...

A Self-Help Harangue

" A Self-Help Harangue "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom
& Mom-Mom Suzán

A self-help harangue
like gossamer orchestrations
by heavy weights
as comfortably winsome
originals
in baby-blue hues
clear, but burly
while skewering
underlying volatility
with barbed insecurities

going begging
for a backstory
half erased
turned off
by change
as the morose
dark echoes
of a baritone
of moon, June
and spoon

trickily metered as inky
smeared versatility
lacking grandiosity
while thwarting shoestrings
like sinewy gigs
configured by gravity
and memory

slithering as cymbal
rhythms with intermittent
hums and whistles
of rubbed moist lips
like pilot lights
never getting ignited

with the wispy wicks
in the middle of ignorance
sticking in the mind
while going halfsies
after burglaries
of gas leaks suspiciously
requiring lesser lights

being lot differently
as silhouetted figures
of flawless images
high-minded and vaguely
unsatisfying while lying in wait
after going separate ways

infuriated by lust abd gluttony
deemed too revealing
pleading, " Not Guilty! "
in a closing-night screening
ruling out making peace
and requiring self-sufficiency
while crawling along
far from normalcy
with the vast majority

embracing fecundity
and living dimy
with dark possibilities
as waxy figures
deliberately flick zippos...

Bursting at the Seams

" Bursting at the Seams "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom
& Mom-Mom Suzán

Bursting at the seams
as roots and ideas
pristinely sweet
touchingly folksy
in a crescendo of funk
while welcoming the younger
propulsively kinky
spitfire vitality

opposed to wishy-washy monotony
worlds apart after sopping
up a foul-mouth with the fallout
of a kapow in the final hour
of a workout after cooling down
below a soprano at sundown

convincingly soliciting gibberish
as something sinister unlike inanities
merely smelling like pre-teens
with high anxieties
for the hard-to-please
in weepy mini-series

sliced up by lacquered
chicken wings
and quick winter pickles
within shouting distance
of a fired-up pigskin
based every ten minutes

as slivered scallions
lightly scattered
on a warm platter
of star anise
turning as dark
and sodden
as light-starved
film noir

wonderfully unblinking
by mimicking a diva technique
with the imaginative means
of coach appeal
tall and gangly
briefly rowdy
and being catchy
while playing
second banana
to a bleeding heart
having to cancel
without fanfare

when given the mantle
while awaiting to bask
in a collection of bags
as rumor has it
in an uptown branch
of wedding bands

just fir fun is the gist
dusted with pink pigment
all over the lids
with a void in Twitter
shoplifted in thrift
by a publicist
over corporate friction
that's hard to kick

like a surprise appearance
across the river in a spiffed
up factory building
while drinking Blue Ribbon
as a capacity issue

for poached eggs
at communal tables
of rebranded cachet
for scraggly-haired pairs
minus tabs and abs
running up tabs
by taking a cab
and nibbling
raw crab...

A Tougher Tack

" A Tougher Tack "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom
& Mom-Mom Suzán

A tougher tack
followed by blasts
after scrambling
to pull back the veil
to a closer path
in a surprise attack
of nearly half
left in players' hands
with mandated hip
and thigh pads

taken to the air
in a broadcast
of hacked scandals
shortly thereafter
while weighing the scale
of the last palpable wind plant

as a symbolic blow
rather than substantive
paring down into risky tasks
wrangling while hitched to a rail

like a restrained leap
into the ccomexities
of a dithering
girl-meets-boy story
as a subscription
for piano and orchestra

available for steaming warts and all
like arguably sought-after awards
for former false performances
in hackneyed sports
while muttering grumpily
with comeuppance
into the emotional distance
of the in fact quite similar scouting trips

while knowing exactly
what will happen to dad's old pal
in a handsome palette
with a gaggle of controlled brutality
for wallflowers

deployed with grimly familiar
flimflammers and gangbangers
that won't take no for an answer
while dumping ashes
and bone fragments
as sinister acts
backtracked evenhandedly
approved by vanity at first glance...

After Implacably Cheerful Shenanigans

" After Implacably
Cheerful Shenanigans"

by Suzán Jiván, Mom
& Mom-Mom Suzán

After implacably
cheerful shenanigans
involving dead animals,
maggots and vats of acid
as dreaded abstractions
passing as anxious laughs

turned kidnapper
being released
on Saturday
as an epic narrative
replete with local interest
flashed 'cross the city

like formal principles
of twisted knickers
numbered in the millions
as whimsically fictitious
depictions of figures

invariably suave
like phenomenology
eclipsed by the cosmopolitan
avante garde as severe geometry
parsed out on harsh columns
of optical dominance

as an embarrassment of riches
not to be missed in terms of tactility
linguistic lucidity and billowy veracity
worthy of scholarly top-tier artists
dobbed with colorful garb

admired from afar
as symbolic objects
right from the start
as inert dots
on spot paintings
with goofy honesty
and complete disregard
seen 'round the clock...

Watching the Dizzily

" Watching the Dizzily "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom &
Mom-Mom Suzán

Watching the dizzily
paradigmatic
doyenne of fashion
doling out
giddily eccentric counsel
with avuncular mushiness

doctored up by makeup
and prescription drugs
with the many pluses
of bang bang splat splat
and radiant happiness

while chowing down
preternaturally backwards
in not too shabby
alpha packs of hazards
evoking balance
while rolling out
and drumming up
a pungent fuss

with uncanny clarity
held in check
by solidifying epochs
evoking overflowing
the moat
with sleepy emotion

portrayed in roles
for moguls of opiates
in non-poetic videos
of soldiers as solo vocals
sung in remote control...

One Issue Is Here

" One Issue Is Here "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom
& Mom-Mom Suzán

One issue
is here
apprenticed
as a printer
in an envious
collection
of recent
projects

pilfered
from the tent
of a general
half-baked as well
as a full-fledged
facial calisthenic

like an acting break
stacked with second batches
of silly hats in legal battles
including suits over bananas

biannually to practicers
of " exactly that "
in a question-and-answer
when asked
about an intricately planned
noted passage

with an interactive hiss
and a mystical growl
in an apt happily-ever-after
with newly attractive
intriguing aspects
as a bus passes
packed with the rapturous
handiwork of a cultural artifact...

Neither Side Gives Signs

" Neither Side Gives Signs "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom
& Mom-Mom Suzán

Neither side gives signs
of attendance rising
like identity crises subsiding
in economic declines

with precious little overbidding
for paper-thin buildings
still being seized by underlings
in high-profile bios of self-exile

spotlighted in the world's eyes
with nothing of its kind
like misspellings of titles
amplified by large type
in real life on the seamy side...

The Old Standby

" The Old Standby "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom
& Mom-Mom Suzán

The old standby
awaiting guidance
from iron ore prices
as a sign of benign
milestones much like
the trials of a wildcard's

featuring risky lineups
celebrating style by diving
headfirst into a backstroke heat
spilling out from the university

while challenging many things
in a charming city distinguished
by oak trees sprouting as surrounding
turnarounds being blown out
by overshadowed announcements

after the third round
completely unchallenged
by a renowned touchdown
as a bracket-rattling rally

complicated on Thursday
falling two sets down
after the second round
ousted by hustle and muscle
with a fist pump
while sitting in a study
without a flub...

Populating the Bar and Lobby

" Populating the Bar and Lobby "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom
& Mom-Mom Suzán

Populating the bar and lobby
more shrugging than sluggish
looking grim in a rough economy
while punishing success
unapologetically

by eating crab cakes slathered
with peach chow chow
as an expression of angst
at the Ritz-Carlton

not to be bothered
spray painted on
by athletes and models
with snap-on hardware
as "sistizz" forever missed
like the full lips of a bygone era...

Take a Screen Shot, Pronto!

" Take a Screen Shot, Pronto! "

by Suzán Jiván

Take a screen
shot, pronto
when no one
responds
to tweethearts
in confidence
on gadget blogs
in flagrante
with nods to Oscar

after squatting
much like Pilates
as snagging spots
on velvet revolvers
like moving targets
for blondies

while drumming
on boxes
of certainly nots
fleshed out in plots
atop sample products

for beauty bars
in popular gift shops
with cozy spots
off the lobby
without stopping
table hopping...

Craving for an 'It'

" Craving for an 'It' "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom
& Mom-Mom Suzán

Craving for an "It"
with something a bit
more permanent
like an ultimate
ink-happy tat
of lace-like black
and flanged fabric

as meatpacking
pan handlers
with belly dancers
in full command
of glances at the band
in rad fashion

being dressed
in berry bouclé lamé
on fantastic runways
created backstage
with the flinch
of a camera click

for a milliner
during a fitting
by baby sitting
the unfit
and being willing
to split
the difference

with too much whiskey
and too little chicken
for dormant twitters
as delicate business
for missives asking for "It"...

At Once Tempting and Ponderous

"At Once Tempting and Ponderous "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom
& Mom-Mom Suzán

At once tempting
and ponderous
within a few blocks
of a simple pretty twist
out of any old thing

never before seen
being re-released
in two parts
of a core product

paired a lot of late
as an off-stage mosaic
gone ga-ga
in a crashed party

wearing saris
playing with what
was once sacrosanct
color blocked
with palazzo
in silk or cotton

seeking to solve
the emptiness of pockets
with turned-up wattage
while looking smart

in millennia-old garb
worn by maharanis
and maids alike
in limited editions
of cashmere and silk

opposed
to unsightly bits
of un-stitched
traditionalists'
figures of ilk...

A Dithering Sense

" A Dithering Sense "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom
& Mom-Mom Suzán

A dithering sense
of extreme complexity
with inattention
towards tempestuously
feverish omens

friskily skittering
in allegiance
somewhat cavalierly
like a zebra-
striped referee
noodling loudly
along the side-
lines of revival...

Hailing Ultimate Social Climbers

" Hailing Ultimate Social Climbers "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom
& Mom-Mom Suzán

Hailing ultimate
social climbers
awaiting
tingly pleasures
of ancestral footmen
that must have been
unfinished as existential
blacksmiths of history
bequeathed by WeeGee
after snapping crime scenes
of ultimate achievements

then going to auction
in the evening
after gearing
up in two aisles
rather than three
dedicated
to singular takes
by zeroing in
on undisguised
interest
while hanging out
of windows
of Post-Prohibition
and speaking
in nasal New Yawkese...

You Can't Preplan a Whale

" You Can't Preplan a Whale "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom
& Mom-Mom Suzán

You can't preplan a whale
be ready as soon as they strand
in a symphony of flatulence
as the prettiness is missed
with huge pressures for instance

suggesting the presence
of a large forehead
to target adversaries
with the anatomy of mammals
by breathing through a blowhole
with your nose and mouth closed...

Roughhousing

" Roughhousing "

by Suzán Jiván

Roughhousing between a stylized
chalk tray and the lip of a stage
dismayingly proclaimed
as a scintillating participation
in an unabated displacement

punctuated by the cryptic stillness
of a lynchpin for an antihero
being sliced away by tirades
along the way by a heavyweight
bellowing, "betrayed!"...

Types of Suspense

" Types of Suspense "

by Suzán Jiván

Types of suspense
wondering whether
to question sex
offenders
as prime suspects
relentlessly delving
into the defense
of one's self

dreading the quest
clueless and disheveled
like no way in hell
foreshadowed
as something else
stacked against
senseless blind tests...

Setting the Record

" Setting the Record "

by Suzán Jiván, Mom,
and Mom-Mom Suzán

Setting the record
for the youngest ever
" Will it stand forever
after placing the STOP
card onto the table? "

after overcalling
then shifting
to a low heart
as the declarer ran

while watching
his parents pass
in an equally fascinating
jump to three no trump

with a discarded
heart king
made into
a new mark
on a cold top
by treating the ten
as an honor
and taking two spades
in an endplay...