David Welper received his M.A. in creative writing from Wayne State University in May 2003. These are selections from his creative thesis, Sleeping in Curves, Waking in Angles, a collection of poems reacting to his position within urban space. He now lives in Denver, Colo. and is working on new prose/poetry that confronts American culture through several themes. His website is http://www.hometown.
aol.com/dcwelper/my
homepage/profile.html.

Excerpts from:
"Sleeping in Curves, Waking in Angles"

David Welper

 

eight

The body a book

inside

slippery organs pump in

spit out

a certain dirty text

dangling pagelessly from fingers

that mind their own

business

 

 

Side effects bosom nestled. Narrative and natural, impatient birds on fingertips. Laid down curves to guard spatial cramps, vanish in the time it takes dollhouse lights to dim. Family inside speaking decent things, fancies their incoming carriage. All these stars bending lonely men.

 

 

A hero

A whim

Allegro ma non tanto

Washed up

dug into sand

Listens to the timing

Intermezzo

Adagio smooth magazine

mother's condom for city boy

That package
built like a moaning wall
Andante cantabile going

Gunshot through open window

Gone

Creeps in the core

taken out

 

back to bayou

Finale

Alla breve

 

 

A kid passes

keeping record of Pollock's blues

Wanders the city

puts a pocket in it

or snake with guts out
Because bookmarks need

something to hold

while the book itself

cracks

illegibly spread apart

 

 

 

~

The first piece curvy
slipped out of hand
Constructed wedge and marginal glasses

lost

in their toss/turn

Nature taking course
dying in other words