Tom Hatch- A Poem

The Coco Butter of Winter

Sally

Hides my scotch from

Her mother above the bar sink

Where she cannot reach

Near the sun screen lotion

From last summer the

Coco butter from the tropics which has a fragrance

Smarts the vision

Of Sally on the lawn

I was never that good at honest

Good bye's to summer

In thought at the linen closet

An apprehension 

There it was that towel she

Laid herself on upon the lawn next to the

David Hockney reflected lit pool a hint of her still 

There coco butter 

after the wash and storage

It was enough of her for the sun

To shine the pool cover in storage

Her navel stomach smooth

Kissing her there I lay my head 

Warm nights the lights

The shooting stars of August 

But the crime of winter's cold 

Imprisons us inside to

Sit by the blazing fire

Under the thought of a 

hot honest sun of August 

On the shag not the lawn

We become the towel

Of summer

 

 

Tom paid his dues in the SoHo art scene way back when. He was awarded two NEA grants for sculpture back then. And taught at various colleges and universities in the NYC metro area in art (including Princeton and U of Penn. in Philly). He feels he is a regular at The Camel Saloon and BoySlut and DS. He has published at The Mind[less] Muse, Jellyfish Whispers, Napalm and Novocain, Dead Snakes and Pyrokinection among others. He has recently had a poem nominated for The Best on The Net. He lives in CT with a few farms up and down the road works in Manhattan. His train ride to and from NYC is his solace, study and den where it all begins and ends.