DEPRESSION POEM
His elbow rests on his knee and his chin is in
the palm of his hand
he fights off the urge for another drink or
another smoke or
another anything else that might
pretend to ease
that craving that
sense of waiting
he wipes his forehead with his palm and wishes the answers were there
but they are not there or
anywhere else
Hemingway took the cowards way out
leaving me here to state it plainly
life has no answers for you, pal
answers are not what we are here
for
***
It’s gotten easier.
My back is still giving me a problem
but I’ve learned to cope.
I’ve worked it out.
Getting her into the wheel chair is the easy part,
then I just back her up to this door
well first I have to block the door open
with this concrete block.
Then I bring her to the edge of the doorway
I gotta be careful as I lower her over the ledge
almost lost her once.
Once I get her out here
I can pull the chair over this concrete
and down those steps to that concrete ledge,
I have to pull the wheelchair backwards
up that hill in the back yard.
I drive the car up the hill
in the side yard and park it
back there with the door open.
Once I pull the chair backwards up that hill I can
pick her up and
put her in the car.
You want some coffee?
david michael jackson
TELL ME WHY
the branches grow here
and the seeds fall to the earth and
the wind blows across the land
and the rain just falls everywhere
and makes the seeds
grow
so tell me why the branches grow
and why the seeds fall
so tell me why the wind blows across the land
and why the rain falls everywhere
and why the seeds grow
ha I say
I, foolish one, knave, a gnome in the kings land
ha I say to the riddles my mind makes for me
to the why’s without what for’s
ha I say
this night of wind and moonlight
***
David Michael Jackson
I saw this so many years ago
On a school trip up the Hudson River to West Point.
This was before we got there
And the band was playing
And I looked into the large room on the deck
And saw her dancing.
Oh what a dancer! At one point
Her partner swung her so that the back of her head
Almost touched the floor.
And I remember a few days later
How, sitting in class next to her,
She asked if I would take her to the senior prom,
I who couldn’t dance a lick
And in my shock
I made up some excuse
And hating myself, for she was a beauty
As well as great dancer
And I even thought about it over the years
And then, finally, some sixty-five years later
In Death Notices in the morning paper
There she is, middle-aged-looking and still a beauty
And I wondered did she ever remember
Anything of that time,
Oh that time
That poor Wimpo can’t forget to this day
The Dancer Poem © Seymour Shubin 2013
I like you if
you’ll like me
and then we can all
like each other
and there will be
peace in the world
and we can Twitter
with the birds
If there were a button for “Launch”
would someone press it?
in a New York
minute.
Helium Addicition (#002, He)
Janet Kuypers
from the “ Periodic Table of Poetry” series
Since I lost my job welding cars,
I thought I’d get my truck driving license
And make my money on the open road.
So when I applied for the truck driving job
for moving compressed Helium from California
to Maine, they asked if I could drive a truck…
When I said I could, they gave me the keys —
and the truck’s a beaut, with a bed
of nine cylinders of that precious Helium.
I hear there’s only so much Helium on Earth,
so I really had some precious cargo to haul.
Now, since I love driving and know how to weld…
I rented the tools and bought the tubing,
and after Arizona I had my rig set up
so I could do Helium hits while on the road.
I mean, I had nine huge tanks of Helium,
all compressed, it was like worker’s comp. You
can always skim off the top, they won’t notice.
Now, this made New Mexico and Texas really fun,
and I ignored the winds sweeping down the plains
of Oklahoma when I had my Helium.
But after Missouri, through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio,
the cops always pulled me over for erratic driving
(but I can’t let go of this Helium high!).
The cops would ask me for paperwork,
and I would happily comply. “You seem to be
driving erratically. Have you slept recently?”
“Yes sir, I’m just so excited, I love this job.”
And the cops looked at me funny before
writing me a warning and sending me on my way.
So I’d always look at my clock radio
and limit my Helium puffs to every time
I saw a good looking seat cover in a passing car —
but the hotties were few and far
between, so I’d check my clock radio
and puffed every seven minutes.
So when my Helium high subsided after only
seven seconds, and I still have seven states
before I could deliver my remaining Helium —
well, that’s when I drove north instead,
to go through Michigan, and leave my life —
and this country — with my precious.
And yeah, I’ll miss my family and friends,
but I’ve only scratched the surface
with my nine lives of Helium, and really,
that Helium high is really worth the world.