SurVision Magazine / Philip Venzke

The Constipated Amoeba

At first it tried
the amoeba defense.
But nothing could pass
through that zone defense.
So it tried mitosis,
but wasn't in the mood.
There is no future
in becoming a cyst,
its friend said:
Try evolving
into a fish.
Then you can bang
your head against
an empty boat.
That seemed to help.

Faded Home Warranty

Squirrels from the attic
conspire to paint
black walnut lips on statues
and this illicit behavior
is so implicitly outrageous
that the wooden rocking chair
tottering on the stone chimney
is left out in the heavy wet snow
along with the forgotten hat box
which is coerced to clench
the rusted upside-down horseshoe
as if it were an arch of rotting teeth
just shoveled out of a lost coal bin
while the holiday crowd in the park
nonchalantly ignores the biplane
webbed above in the hemlock tree
its propeller still spinning madly

Philip Venzke is from Wisconsin. His poems appear in Harbinger Asylum, Door Is a Jar, Bramble, Stoneboat Literary Journal, Overground Underground, One Sentence Poems, Bramble, Moss Piglet, Illumen, Verse Wisconsin, Right Hand Pointing, and SurVision. His chapbook, Chant to Save the World, won the James tate Prize and was subsequently published by SurVision Books in 2022. His second chapbook of poetry, Rules to Change the World, has been published by Finishing Line Press in 2023.

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An international online magazine that publishes Surrealist poetry in English. Issue Thirteen PHILIP VENZKE The Constipated Amoeba At first it tried the amoeba defense. But nothing could pass through that zone defense. So it tried mitosis, but wasn't in the mood. There is no future in becoming a cyst, its friend said: Try evolving into a fish. Then you can bang your head against an empty boat. That seemed to help. Faded Home Warranty Squirrels from the attic conspire to paint black walnut lips on statues and this illicit behavior is so implicitly outrageous that the wooden rocking chair tottering on the stone chimney is left out in the heavy wet snow along with the forgotten hat box which is coerced to clench the rusted upside-down horseshoe as if it were an arch of rotting teeth just shoveled out of a lost coal bin while the holiday crowd in the park nonchalantly ignores the biplane webbed above in the hemlock tree its propeller still spinning madly Philip Venzke is from Wisconsin. His poems appear in Harbinger Asylum, Door Is a Jar, Bramble, Stoneboat Literary Journal, Overground Underground, One Sentence Poems, Bramble, Moss Piglet, Illumen, Verse Wisconsin, Right Hand Pointing, and SurVision. His chapbook, Chant to Save the World, won the James tate Prize and was subsequently published by SurVision Books in 2022. His second chapbook of poetry, Rules to Change the World, has been published by Finishing Line Press in 2023.
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