ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

~Prompt–for a book you haven’t written

 

 

First of all, I must thank my parents.

Without them, I would be normal,

and this book would not

have been possible.

 

My husband did not

comment on it, or even read it.

In fact, for the past eight months,

he has been living

in a tent in the woods.

I love you, sweetie.

Words cannot express

my gratitude.

 

My children are grown

so I thank them for not

getting in my way

(except for two hysterical

phone calls which only

kept me awake nights

for a week or so).

 

I am grateful to my agent,

despite her claim that

I was the direct cause

of her most recent breakdown.

I am not responsible for everything,

but she is responsible

for finding a home for my work.

 

All my editors—every single

one of them—have been

marvelous.

 

The Spring St. Poets

have provided occasionally helpful

feedback and comic relief for years.

Thanks, guys!

 

It takes a village

to produce a book, so I owe

a great deal to my neighbors

who put up with my midnight

hurdy-gurdy/bagpipe fests

and afternoon target practices,

and only called the police three times.

 

These poems

are for them.

 

 

MP   March 1, 2017

RAGWEED DREAM

. . . an old and very peculiar poem based on a dream.

 

RAGWEED DREAM

 

First the wobbly bookcase top where I sat

after giving tea to the women who interrupted

the poem.   When they at last were ready

to leave, I had to ask a curly-haired girl

to brace the piano stool, so I could jump down.

When she turned into my son as he was

twenty-eight years ago, and when he went

to open my parents’ bedroom door,

I followed him.

 

There was a strange woman

in their bed, pale, dressed in Victorian blue;

it took a hell of a time to wake her.

Jim told me I could sleep here, she whispered,

he said he’d throw cold water on me

when it was time for me to go.

 

I took a bottle and a brush

from the dresser, began to paint my son’s little face.

It was supposed to be Indian brown,

but I couldn’t see any difference.

Then the factory tour, all along a balcony

that opened outdoors, turned into stairs–

the creepy kind, with no railings or edges.

Cautiously I climbed down to the gravel entry

of the inevitable gift shop.

 

I leaned on the fence,

looked up at the grassy ski lift where the stairs had been,

where gaudy mannequins were poised.

Jacques Cousteau–I recognized him right away–

was leaning there next to me, his elbows resting

on the rail.  In my day, there wasn’t even a lift,

he said.  No gift shop, no tour.

 

I had to sneeze

and I woke up, thinking of the beautiful sisters

who brought in a bear and fed him by the fire.

September 3, 2003

 

DAILY NOTES–a found poem

DAILY NOTES

 

greenleaf too limp to carry

loose empires coming Sunday

no mungs avail

keep demoing rasp

and sometimes demo straw

 

 

Found at the Food Coöp.

POMP

POMP

 

The word plumps.

Gold-chained, well-fed Aldermen

stalk in solemn procession.

Corsetted contralto Presidents

of Ladies’ Literary Societies

squint through lorgnettes.

Lord Bishops finger their pectoral

crosses with aplomb.

April prompt #34

April prompt #34

A DR. SEUSS INSPIRED POEM

Kari’s #6

I do not like beets or old goat cheese

on a winter day, in a summer breeze.

 

I do not wear a pirate hat

or dress my grandson like a cat.

 

I like to stand out in the rain.

I want to sing about a train.

 

I think I am a silly goose

for trying to write like Dr. Seuss.

April prompt#28

april 28 prompt

You have been sent to apologize to a foreign power on behalf of our government.

Do it in a limerick.

Ray’s #4

(Except I cheated and wrote it nearly a week ago while walking in the woods and when I drew another one, I put it back because I wanted this one today  since I have to go to an all-day Tai Chi workshop again and call my mother’s old friend in Norway first.)

 

TO THE WORLD IN GENERAL:

SORRY.

AT LEAST WE’RE MODERATELY ENTERTAINING.

PROBABLY.

 

Here in this country called US

The system is all in a muss.

The rich guys control it,

Politicians extol it,

‘cept Bernie, who’s making a fuss.

April prompt #27

April prompt #27

 FOUR USES FOR A PIECE OF STRING

(WITH AN OPTIONAL BUTTON ATTACHED)

Mary’s #3

Forget the damned button.

They never stay attached.

All they do is work their way loose,

get lost under the dresser

or in the driveway or

someplace downtown, so

that you have to use string

to hold up your pants,

lace up your shirt,

close your coat,

fasten your sleeve.