Parvenu Weekly
Nate Fisher

sweet sounds
    succeed
      the maestro's heart
                              ache
 
     with     melpomene ears
                 that
                 wait
                 the times
the composer
    can arrange even the
          last        (whispers)
                       between
 abraham           and        mary todd
                         lincoln

whether
AND NOW FOR OUR FEATURE PRESENTATION
   or series premiere
        first edition hard
                          back
there is
    no longer
    any
    dispute
the mystic bible of
        DIY savanthood
        is back in circulation
                             again

it's made up
         of verses
     from the
         bone and flint
         virtuosos
                   street prophets who
                   lyricize divorce
          on their lunch hour
         traffictraffictraffictraffic
         of genius
holding up their masks
       to conduct
each of
            their precious histories
                                                to
                                                   the front of the line
a sonata
   the result
               from napping
        with the
      cat
            martini night
            is the new
                             fellini
every
last
bite       of indian food
            the plot twist
            of the hour


all of this
      melodious
                 misery
      keeps the fifth grade
                 dilettante
awake
                   in
     anxiety
                            scuttling
                    the
       owlish
hours

his careful
      meditations
                            jerking
black            to  white

worrying
              if he really looks as young anymore
              if he is the wooden boy turning to ash
                                   and
back             to word count:
                    four
                           hundred
                                         and
                                               seventy
                                                           two
           of an essay
               on
     John Wilkes Booth
         the derringer’s
                     songbird