Mike Alexander

Tussaud

The gods no longer walk with us. They know
we’d pester them in airports & in bars
for autographs, for photographs, to show
we’ve brushed against their famous avatars.

A party: Southern California hills,
an opening, perhaps. Couture afresh
drives cameras ecstatic. Champagne spills.
Celebrities hobnob as in the flesh…

& we stand frozen in our tracks, so near
to Frank Sinatra & the whole Rat Pack;
this is our chance to talk off Elvis’ ear,
kiss Marilyn or take a shot at Jack.

We might have met the Queen or Lady Di,
crossed wits with Noël or swords with Errol Flynn.
But we do nothing. Let the chance slip by,
as if we too were made of paraffin.

Mike Alexander’s First book, Retrograde (P&J Poetics), was published in 2013. His most recent chapbook We Internet in Different Voices, is still available through Exot Books. Recent publications include Long Poem, Raintown Review, River Styx, & Measure. His work was also included in the Mutabilis Press anthology, Untamable City.