Is this poem a dog or a rose?
The periods are lined up like stars.
Arms draped over a hip
with sunlight peeking through.
Words,
softly spoken,
like a whispering windy day,
full of sun
and maybe a thunderstorm
in the afternoon.
Is this poem found
nodding in the armchair
under the papers in the lap
or beside the bed
or under the house in the dark corner?
Is this poem in the curtain
in the hall or
on the mantle beside the pictures
of people standing in front
of old cars?
Month: August 2020
Imitations in the Windows. A Poem by Samuel Strathman
Several childlike artworks
line the windows
of a bungalow.
The drawing that
stands out the most
is the one
of a dog eyed
octopus in a state
of repose.
Swimming in the deep
dark ocean must be
onerous for the little chum.
It’s a wonder
you don’t see more
of those tired heaps
tamped together.
*
My favourite shop
removes all the fish
from its counters, relocates
them to the frozen isle.
Display counters
make the transition
to imitation seafood.
There is a sudden
itch for me
to paint these replicants
right here, right now
before my hands
turn to hooks.
Perhaps these models
inspire some artists
more than others.
Author Bio
Samuel Strathman is a poet, author, educator, and co-editor at Cypress: A Poetry Journal. Some of his poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Rejection Letters, The Honey Mag, Ice Floe Press, and elsewhere. His debut chapbook, “In Flocks of Three to Five” was published by Anstruther Press (2020). His second chapbook, “The Incubus” will be in print this fall (Roaring Junior Press, 2020).
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times at Artvilla.com ; his publications include
All the Babble of the Souk , Cartoon Molecules, Next Arrivals and Moon Selected Audio Textual Poems, collected poems, as well as translation of Guadalupe Grande´s La llave de niebla, as Key of Mist and the recently published Tesserae , a translation of Carmen Crespo´s Teselas.
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)