Two Poems
Tom Formaro
Fringe sentience and
a sense of seclusion
lead to pretense
What eros has as
practice becomes enamored
of the sole body
But what thoughts
I have cost more than
a kiss and its scent
And yesterday was muffled
echoes reformulated
Directions
Something’s changed
the dog smells it
in the breeze
Acceptance seized heat
and where and when
I am not opposed
though I can scarcely tell
tonight with aberrations
drawn by a full room
Where do the
lizards sleep when
there’s no lament
And what do hindsight and sea
want with me—it must be
of the cell or the
dark rippling
a perviousness
I’ve negotiated too much
and found my way
in the quiet—an
idle fault to guide me
But there’s enough
elation in the space
to allow shifts in
position—unseated
not unwanted
Let’s take one last
breath before we
splay the night
Tom Formaro is a writer, drummer, and dad. His fiction has appeared in Spoilage, Akkadian, and SoMa Literary Review. His poetry has appeared in Janus Head, Otoliths, dadakuku, Indefinite Space and is forthcoming in M58, Utriculi, and Exacting Clam. He has also published a novel, The Broken Heart Diet, and a children’s story (co-authored with his wife, Rachel Formaro), Alfonso the Christmas Pumpkin. Tom has taught creative writing in an elementary after-school program to at-risk middle school students and in private workshops. His poetry takes random and deliberate thoughts, glances and earshots and torques them until some sense of motion emerges. Tom Formaro is online at http://www.tformaro.com.