{"id":7720,"date":"2021-05-06T17:07:53","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T17:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/?p=7720"},"modified":"2021-05-07T21:54:29","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T21:54:29","slug":"peter-mladinics-schaeffer-poems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/peter-mladinics-schaeffer-poems\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Mladinic’s Schaeffer Poems"},"content":{"rendered":"

(i.)
\n 
\nSchaeffer Is Next
\n 
\nThe next vape, the next corner
\nTo turn, the next day, he drove
\nTo Maidenrock. It was a Saturday.
\nSchaeffer thinks of the adjective,
\nThen, next, please, please added
\nTo soften the blow that one is next,
\nWhether one likes it or not. Schaeffer
\nThinks, I\u2019m next. He thinks:
\nThe next vampire film, the next
\nTrip to Walmart, the next bite
\nOf the apple, the next diver
\nTo leap from the plane and pull
\nThe parachute string to soften the fall.
\n 
\nDon\u2019t sit under the apple tree
\nWith anyone else but Kim Kardashian West
\nDon\u2019t sit under the apple tree
\nWith anyone but Derek Jeter
\nWith anyone but Taylor Swift
\nWith anyone but a descendent of Clyde
\nBarrow, with anyone whose surname
\nIs Lake
\nDon\u2019t do it, don\u2019t sit there with
\nCasey Anthony, Susan Smith
\nOr Charles Manson
\n 
\nThe next vape, the next hero
\nThe next vampire, the next banquet
\nThe next moment, who knows
\nAnything might happen:
\nA river might flood,
\nA tree might catch on fire.
\n 
\nThere\u2019s the Rita H angle
\nHow she was glamorous in her voice
\nHer eyes, her long wavy red hair
\nHer spangled dress that hugged her hips
\nGlamorous in her walk in how she moved
\nBack and forth on stage
\nUnder the spotlight in Gilda.
\nThen, spin the wheel of time forward,
\nSay, twenty years and find her
\nAlone in a room. Dementia
\nHas taken over.
\nShe is cared for, incontinent
\nCan\u2019t wipe herself or wash her
\nOnce lovely hair. Oh,
\nThe waking nightmare bird
\nPerches on her shoulder
\nThat was once bare and aflame
\nWith lust, all of her.
\n 
\n(ii.)
\n 
\nSchaeffer\u2019s Notion of Beauty
\n 
\nBombs turn a building to rubble,
\nrescuers find
\nan arm, a leg.
\n 
\nIn a mall a maniac fires a rifle,
\nleaving in his wake
\ndead children.
\n 
\nHate manifestos
\nall over the Internet,
\nin the world there is danger:
\n 
\na racist shoots Satyajit Chandra
\nat a bus stop
\nand nothing is done.
\n 
\nStill, even now, beauty
\nis with us.
\n 
\n(iii.)
\n 
\nShaeffer Wonders
\n 
\nThis accident from 1965 astonishes
\nSchaeffer. He writes: I was far away,
\nbut I can see the broad boulevard,
\nthe side streets of my hometown,
\nand can imagine the Davis car
\nblows thoughtless through the Stop
\nand slams the rear of the Edwards car
\n 
\nso that car spins a quick whirlwind
\non this Sunday night of light traffic.
\nThe lethal turbulence in this time
\nbefore seatbelts flings rag doll-like
\nMr Edwards from behind the wheel
\nout to the street, his head dashes
\nthe curb, instant dead. Mr Edwards\u2019
\n 
\ngoing from his house to Lucille
\nDesaderio\u2019s split-second stopped
\non the boulevard, that two mile drive
\ndisrupted with Lucille who sat close
\nbetween Mr Edwards and Chris
\nhis son, both passengers still there
\nin the gold sedan\u2019s front bench.
\n 
\nThe sedan\u2019s spinning stilled,
\nthe turbulence quieted, still as death
\nthat intersection. I can hear sirens,
\nsee two patrol cars on the scene,
\na yellow ambulance\u2019s red top whirls
\nin the still night, a badge, his back
\nto the ambulance, jots with a pen
\n 
\nin a pad. The ambulance\u2019s back door
\nopen, the sheeted dead lifted in
\nand wonder if Lucille that night wore
\nshorts, sandals, a thin gold cross
\non a chain and at what hour Lucille
\nunhooked that chain\u2019s clasp and
\nwonder if a red white Marlboro box
\n 
\nfell from dash to floorboard, Chris\u2019s
\ncigarettes. Did he reach for one
\nand with a Zippo light it? Its orange tip
\nin the dark glows as the badge jots
\nwith a ballpoint and the ambulance
\nsiren sounding leaves the boulevard
\nand Lucille and Chris leave, and John
\n 
\nDavis, the other driver. I remember
\nMr Edwards dove perfectly off a high
\nboard, arrow-straight down into a pool
\nof blue water rippled with sun rings.
\nIron-gray hair, tall and straight, at 47
\nstill athletic, he walks out a door
\nwith car keys in hand, that night.
\n 
\n\"\"<\/a>
\n 
\nPeter Mladinic has published three books of poems: Lost in Lea, Dressed for Winter<\/em>, and Falling Awake in Lovington<\/em>, all with the Lea County Museum Press. He lives in Hobbs, New Mexico.
\n 
\n 
\n 
\n 
\n 
\n 
\nRobin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times<\/a> at Artvilla.com <\/a>; You may visit Aquillrelle.com\/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop <\/a> about author & https:\/\/poetrylifeandtimes.com<\/a> See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)<\/a> <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/pre>\n
\u2003<\/p>\n
Share and Enjoy !<\/h3>
<\/i><\/span>Shares<\/small><\/div>
<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span>\n<\/i><\/a><\/span>\n<\/i><\/a><\/span>\n<\/i><\/a><\/span>\n<\/i><\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/i><\/a><\/span>\n<\/i><\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(i.)   Schaeffer Is Next   The next vape, the next corner To turn, the next day, he drove To Maidenrock. It was a Saturday. Schaeffer thinks of the adjective, Then, next, please, please added To soften the blow that one is next, Whether one likes it or not. Schaeffer Thinks, I\u2019m next. He thinks: … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[808,950,796,366,401,43],"tags":[18,136,874],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7720"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7720"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7729,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7720\/revisions\/7729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}