Poetry

May 30, 2017 Poetry , POETRY / FICTION

Mike Dempsey photo

By

Blind

“One time, a thing occurred to me/What’s real and what’s for sale”

Stone Temple Pilots, “Vasoline”

Daughters, Sons, let me show you

what is inside

the stone stomach

of a volcano or the soft dehiscent belly

of an apricot.

The earth inhales and here is Spring

then Summer when everything

melts,

melds,

manifests.

The planet exhales and there is Fall’s

disappointment and Winter’s despair.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

Sons, Daughters, did you not know that

you are a certain promise;

one that scuttles back

into blankness

like sand crabs

in receding tides?

Here, let me show you the extravagance of

Elah’s presentations to John,

the consummate humor laid on him

there on Patos which

shimmered and laughed in a “sea of glass

mingled with fire.”

All this surrounding

the soft soul of John.

Children, if you pay attention

to the signs, you’ll see that

there is very little gentle touching

in this world.

Press your bodies as

I have mine

to the words.

Press your minds

to music’s hard body.

These two actions will create

the only halation you will ever need.

Nous Sommes Tous A La Femme Inconnue De La Seine—A Quadrille

Today caffeine was not enough

nor the croissant.

Her sadness was as big

as an airplane hangar

When it was called Confession

she could feel forgiven.

Now it is reconciliation

and all she feels is hungry

Who told her she was

NOT a narcissist?

Her children roundly

proclaim her failed mothering

As they danced around her

chanting “insolvent, insolvent”

she sat in the big chair

imagining tulips and maybe a wren.

She ran like a woman

with her hair on fire

thought herself love’s steward

which she was not.

Martina Reisz Newberry’s most recent book is NEVER COMPLETELY AWAKE (due out in 2017 from Unsolicited Press). She is also the author of WHERE IT GOES (Deerbrook Editions). LEARNING BY ROTE (Deerbrook Editions) and RUNNING LIKE A WOMAN WITH HER HAIR ON FIRE: Collected Poems (Red Hen Press). She lives in her beloved Los Angeles with her husband, Brian Newberry, a Media Creative.