“Paul ” Koniecki, fortune favors the rich

My totem is a picture of the dead. Agony 

can ascend at the behest of a crystalline 

heel. Design stumbled in a surge like 

artificial destiny. Paycheck to paycheck

chance is a repeated dirty word. 

Their revelation is a bankrupt spell 

bone-cast and putrefying somewhere 

on a laugh-track for a laugh. 

Their revelation is a capitalist venture. 

Their cadence is a last rasp 

echoing FOOL take me for a clear 

and beneficent daub of grace. 

Stand in the timing of our filter scanned 

for your protection and thrive. Fellow 

Earthlings read the previous fourteen lines 

and know what we are up against.

They are a ball peen hammer carrying an 

overpriced ‘script. Hunger follows form.

fortune favors the rich

---

Paul Koniecki lives and writes in Dallas, Texas. He was once chosen for the John Ashbery Home School Residency. He is the Associate Editor of Thimble Literary Journal.

His books of poetry are available from Kleft Jaw Press, NightBallet Press, Dark Particle Press, and Spartan Press.