HAL SIROWITZ
Like a Fish
Uncle Jack got caught driving
while intoxicated, even though
my Aunt had bought him a bar
to manage across the street so he
could walk home. But instead
of walking he drove and got
into this mess with the law. Plus,
they couldn’t visit our house since
it was not near public transportation.
The only solution was for us to visit
them more. Uncle Jack was only social
when he had a few beers in him. Otherwise,
he’d give commands, like tell my father
to drive the car around the block to keep
the engine in good shape. Father didn’t
like traveling in circles. But Jack
would have him
test the horn until they became
the center of attention. Father would
tell us privately
during the ride home that if you drink
like a fish you have to endure
the consequences
of being one out of water – thrashing
about, not getting anywhere.
poetryrepairs #210 15,03:031
HAL SIROWITZ
Relief from Boredom
“In Bryn Mawr, PA, George Baird, returning from a party at 5 a.m., banged at the back door, was greeted with gunfire. Hospitalized, he learned that he had returned to the wrong house in the wrong town.” --TIME Capsule/1944
I could understand why my wife
was mad at me, he said, for returning
home so late without calling to let her know
I’d soon be arriving, but to greet
me with gunfire was very unlike her.
We moved to the suburbs to get away
from urban violence. We both decided
we would rather be bored than shot at.
Boredom is only a temporary phenomenon –
a good movie can stop it for a few hours.
Whereas, knife scars or gunshot wounds
last for the rest of your life. So when my
wife started to shoot at me, all I could
think about was she must have been
in a Philadelphia state of mind. Unless,
it wasn’t her doing the shooting. But they
say domestic crime is usually committed
by someone you know. Besides my wife,
who else did I know? We just moved in.
I hadn’t gotten to know the neighbors, yet.
Now, I don’t think they’ll want to know me.
poetryrepairs #210 15,03:031
PRASENJIT MAITI
SO...
So
I know the road winds here as if in ignominy as I dream yet another fantasy
and try to cling on to you my rebel words do not leave me alone in ecstasy
or defeat walking jostled among markets people memories do not show me
your smirk again or sound your cymbals of insanity . . . I recall the music ends
here when I die and listen to the strains of yet another road not walked body
not blessed woman not scripted when benedictions shower from above in
agelessness in inanity
No
Word can stay with me today as I prepare for lines that have to be encountered
such as never before like being a writer in residence talking to students around
a fire that is white like the bleak meaning of sentences hanging loose in corners
sharp and indifferent for what they are worth and their treachery that is rabid like
their edges and hangs and gutters and your spaces rampant that hardly make up
my keyboard
And
I sit before you today and yesterday and sip tea without sugar to make life easier
and cheaper without strings attached and rephrase apologies for what I do not
know as the garden somehow blurs around the edges and smudges like mascara
that is without vanity
poetryrepairs #210 15,03:031
thank you for reading poetryrepairs
please link to http://www.poetryrepairs.com/v15/031.html
| |
|
|
|
|
All the fine arts are species of poetry--Samuel Taylor Coleridge
poetry repairs
your heart
even as it splits it open.
VIRGINIA WOOLF
The Art of Reading
Our Dancing Poet Logo! FIND GIFT BUY GIFT @
http://www.zazzle.com/poetryrepairshop
No state organ: POETRYREPAIRS
accepts NO money from federal,
state, or local governments.
READERS maintain poetryrepairs.
I have many things to write unto you but
I will not write with pen and ink
--JOHN the theologian
REPAIR: resort, frequent or habitual going; concourse or confluence of people
at or in a place; making one's way; to go, betake oneself, to arrive; return to a place; to dwell; to recover, heal, or cure; to renew; to fix to original condition. -- Oxford English Dictionary
READ MORE POETRY
PRASENJIT MAITI tells us that he 'used to write sometime back but did not come up with any new idea in the recent past. He makes an attempt to explain why in his new work while his earlier writings are disowned for reasons not known to him.'
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Article 22.
• Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
TOP
|