I’LL SEE YOUR BLARNEY AND RAISE YOU ONE
Forty shades of green by Dublin town
But Texas still has braggin’ rights
what with Marfa, and those lights
And at least sixty shades of brown
as you drive from Lubbock down
Category: Uncategorized
MALPRACTICE
MALPRACTICE
There have always been therapists
The first one was the snake
who just suggested to Eve
that she open up a little
For six thousand years
he’s been trying to slither out
of a skin our projections
have painted him in
The second one was Eve
who many judge about as low
for passing it on to Adam
OUT OF AFRICA
OUT OF AFRICA
She glides across Sixth Street
midway between traffic lights
Noticing and ignoring
cars and bikes and eyes
without spilling a drop
from the invisible pot on her head
PERSPECTIVE
PERSPECTIVE
In Israel this year
the number of Jews will reach six million
There are other Jews in other lands
but it is only here that you can stand
Put out your hands
palms up and softly cupped
Weigh each as equal
weigh each and say
“This many”
PATRICIA FISKE HAPPY BIRTHDAY 2013
PATRICIA FISKE HAPPY BIRTHDAY 2013
Another year
and the miracle
of still being here
like coyote, that old trickster
dry-footing it across a mirage
WHEN METAPHORS COLLIDE
A young man in a Hummer H3
intersected our Volvo Ninety V
Insensate military might
and a knife at a gun fight
Sad day for Swedish diplomacy
THE BLIZZARD OF WHATEVER YEAR THAT WAS
THE BLIZZARD OF WHATEVER YEAR THAT WAS
The windshield was a movie screen
with no picture playing
The plug-in spotlight
for freeze-framing rabbits
now at the end of a freezing arm
tracks the edge of a gravel road
Two, maybe three, miles an hour
one hour, maybe two, maybe three
Rabbits in the back of the pickup
stiffly reminding of what happens if you stop
HEADINGS
HEADINGS
Hamlet was only mad north-northwest
My father
who also mostly knew
a hawk from a hacksaw
had him beat by a few degrees
Which you could quickly learn
by questioning his direction
at any point of the compass
Struck by a stroke
on the day he retired
he was never the same again
The left side of his brain
holds logic math and anger
all other emotions on the right
The man became a gentle artist
if he could have lined up lines
he might have been a poet
IMMORTALITY
IMMORTALITY
If a leaf should fall
on your perfect wet cement
Do not reach for the trowel
to dig it out and smooth it over
Lift it carefully
Leave its jagged print
along with finger and thumb
on each side of the winding stem
There will be no need to impress
with your initials, or the date
CULPA
CULPA
Perhaps there is no such thing
as an innocent bystander
Not even my relatives
the ever so neutral Swiss
holding the combatants
coats and wallets
hoping to win
no matter who loses