JOE AND TED

Joe's the good cop,
Ted's the bad.
Ted knocks you down,
kicks you in the head.
Joe pulls him off,
helps you to your knees.

"He's crazy, kid,
he'll kill you,"
whispers Joe.
"Do yourself a favor,
tell him what he wants to know,
do like he says."

Cops working in teams
take on roles:
next time
the bad cop'll be Joe.

It's like that
up & down the system:
Our bosses & landlords & the taxmen
are Ted,
the Welfare Department is Joe.

Like every Welfare client knows,
never turn your back on Joe.



MIXED BREEDS

His mother has some Italian blood in her
her lover's just a bit Hungarian Jew
his grandpa's got some Chicano in him too
her aunt's one part Madagascan
his cousin's a little Choctaw
neither you nor he know it but
there's some Malay-Swede in your uncle-in-law

Mixed breeds
that's what we all really are
no fences ever succeeded
in keeping our loveplasm apart:
we were one in the beginning
and the tribes have traveled far
but we're reaching home again
and we've the right to claim what's ours:
our blood is an ocean
flowing round and round the world:
the future belongs
to the mixed breed and proud


ALMOST TO

Blackberries tangle lazily
along the fence grey
and weathered to the grain.
Lapwings in the roses and
poinsettias by
the window. A cobweb
sparkles in the corner
of the sill; an ant
explores the dust;
droplets ramble down
the beaded glistening
pane. Early
morning, blue and pale, seeps
like milk through the leaves and
across pillow-strewn hair. Beneath
the comforter her foot
is barely brushing
mine. In the other
room baby stirs.

Visit John Curl's web site, Red Coral, for more of his writings. http://www.jps.net/redcoral

John Curl is the author of six volumes of poetry, including Decade, Columbus in the Bay of Pigs, and Tidal News. He has published widely in
magazines and periodicals.

His new novel, The Last Katun, is available on the web: http://www.jps.net/redcoral/LastKatun


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