Everette Maddox > Quotes

“The Poem

It's a rug: jump
on a bump and
another humps

up. It won't stay
smooth. It's nice skin
that keeps breaking

out in boils. It's
a cathedral,
with every word

a little gar-
goyle. A big grin
with all the teeth

snaggled. Because
somewhere, down deep
inside, every-

think is not all
right.”
― Everette Maddox, I Hope It's Not Over, and Good-By.: Selected Poems of Everette Maddox

“Hypothetical Self-Epitaph

What if I just caved in,
gave out, pulled over
to the side of
the road of life,
& expired like an old
driver's license?
You might say He didn't
get far in 31 years.
But I'd say That's
all right, it was
the world's longest trip
on an empty tank.”
― Everette Maddox, I Hope It's Not Over, and Good-By.: Selected Poems of Everette Maddox

“Royal Street, Corner Conti

Hot day with clouds.
One of them brooding
days. One of them
magnolias sagging
onto the roof of one
of them sidewalk bars.
One of them old grey
folk singers out there
on the street. A lot
of them tourists,
with an admixture
of them lovers. One
of them invisible
pigeons just pissed,
straight down, narrowly
missing putting out
my pipe... Oh it's one
of them days that
threaten not to explode
but to implode, or out
of which the bottom
proposes to drop.”
― Everette Maddox, I Hope It's Not Over, and Good-By.: Selected Poems of Everette Maddox