Sample Poems by Beau Boudreaux

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Avant-Garde Love

Why go out for hamburger
when I can have steak at home?
Paul Newman


Southern woman with emerald eyes
I courted she drove six hours round trip

every other weekend in her old Honda
sold her home in Madison, moved in

down in New Orleans
her black lab with my ageing beagle...

six years, I've looked forward
each peerless moment, even mundane-

her blonde wisps on bed sheets
crease in her thigh after a jog

surprise Chardonnay chilled
after work, crock pot on Sunday-

when I sour when I'm wrong...
her stolid voice cool demeanor

why I come straight home from the gym
along St. Charles as girls in tank tops jog by.

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Married


A catcher's mitt
worn leather snug on the hand

palm toughened by countless evenings
our fastballs and curves-

dinners where we dress out our china
as the home team, smug heads of the table

long days of extra innings
take their swings, garbage at the curb

pitch and catch from the mound
keep an eye on her signals

wordless nod
chance to steal or get picked off

under blue horizons, occasional sunsets
our crowd chanting in the stands.

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First Trimester


In the afternoon
my wife tires

during the night
has to pee four or five times-

the ultrasound my awakening
as the technician slips me the image,

late April one morning sick
carries on throughout the day

sleeping through the night...
my only wish her recovery

the next day she pivots
a new moat surrounds her fort.

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May


First true signs of a paunch
her black slacks for work won't button

there's salvation at the maternity store
smart dresses and skirts

May is fleeting, we're almost half-way
like rookie training camp, ahead

house renovations, the yellow hue
from Ace Hardware

for the room, crib
still in the box, stern reminders

what I never noticed to proof-
electrical sockets, vents

she says our entire house
could use better cleaning

the scorching summer, hurricane
prepared like uncrossing fingers.

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Domesticity


Sag in the driver's seat, sigh
idling for the green streetcar while

tourists unload in July heat
look both ways crossing the neutral ground

over tracks to reach safely across
the avenue-I barely accelerate

air conditioner cool on low
they're building a new house

on my block, progress in the morning
before afternoon thunderstorms roll in-

plan creole tomatoes, sweet corn, watermelon
perhaps boiled gulf shrimp on a bed of lettuce,

more dire tasks, strange leak
from the bathroom ceiling

during heavy showers, toddler's loose
front tooth, rattle in the dryer-

my wife returns soon from work
like aloe on my sun-burned skin

her blonde hair freshly clipped
at the shoulder, black dress

she slips into comfortable clothes
white t-shirt, jeans, espadrilles

I turn on the local jazz station.
put her Chardonnay on ice.