Melanie Browne- Three Poems

When Napoleon met the devil

At least once during his reign,
if not twice,
they discussed many things,
such as military strategy,
and the best brandy (eaux-de-vie)
and of course,
the best bosoms in Paris,
but often the devil and Bonaparte
would get in pissing contests,
and the devil would always win,
which would mean Napoleon
would have a melt-down
and kick his legs like
a stinging scorpion
(he always had a short fuse)
and it took several hours
for him to calm down but
he always did,
and the devil would
walk Napoleon
underneath the city
at night,
the plague victim bones
would rattle and the city
would shriek and cry
in the virtual darkness
and the devil would
hold the flashlight
for Napoleon,
they always looked
out for each other
in those days



electricity

My husband shows me an
article about wild things creative
people do to get their creative
juices flowing, and the thing
I remember the most was
Benjamin Franklin taking
"air baths," in the nude &
I can't help but giggle
picturing him with
it all Hanging out
possibly during an
electrical storm
and the wind is
blowing and the
crackle is in the air,
the hiss, hiss
all around
and then
KA-BOOM!!
Ben running
back into the
house and making
a sandwich before bed,
I think about the
electricity in
our fingertips and
in our brains
and the night sky
and how we waste it
and I want to
take an air bath
but we have
too many neighbors,
there are too
many porch lights,
and I am not nearly brave
enough



Dracula

I remember he was very pale,
and had very sharp incisors,
I think he might have been
vitamin deficient.
He wanted to suck my blood
but I really thought that wasn't
a good idea at the time.
I was about 23,
I dated a lot of weirdos
I'll be honest,
but none of them
were quite as charming,
I can't remember his name
but it was Serghei,
or Victor or Nicholas.
His car broke down a lot,
his mom was sick in the hospital,
he was working delivering
wheelchairs for old people,
he talked about life
in the "old country,"
and a bunch of weird superstitions
they had about cats and bats
and bullshit like that
most of the time I had no
idea what he was talking about,
he never had much money to go out,
and I always had to pay for our dates,
it got really old and we broke up,
I think he might work for the same company,
he never married,
his mom died,
I heard people see him
passed out in the field
near the stadium,
blood dripping off
one corner of his mouth,
the moon a perfect crescent
in the sky above