No. I won’t BE NICE.
Don’t for a moment think
it’s not my right to ask the questions.
No. I will not SIT DOWN AND BEHAVE.
Do not speak to my protest
with that patronizing tone.
No. I will not quell my laugh.
Do not think your CONVICTION
changes my outrage.
No. I will not stop.
No. I will not stop.
No. I will not stop.
That’s what little girls are made of.
Want a preview of our upcoming book Evidence of Flossing: What We Leave Behind? Then come to the Opening Reception for Where the Whole Universe Dwells, an exhibit at Perspectives…The Gallery at Whitney Center, on Saturday, May 20 from 3-5pm.
The exhibit, presented by the Arts Council of Greater New Haven and curated by Debbie Hesse, will include photographs from Evidence of Flossing, and features work by Jennifer Davies, Nancy Eisenfeld, Anne-Doris Eisner, and Peter Konsterlie. It will be in view at the gallery from May 17 – August 27.
Perspectives…The Gallery at Whitney Center is located at 200 Leeder Hill Drive, south entrance, Hamden, Connecticut, (203) 281-6745. Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 4-7 p.m., and Saturdays 1-4 p.m. Click here for more information.
The note says (Chinese Food)
but it is random
out of context on a piece of paper
in a stack of papers
at least 2 months passed
my past included (Chinese Food)
but what?
and with whom?
and what is the purpose
of this little clue
set out for me to follow
too early even for General Tso,
though I never met him personally
rumor has it, he was a press man…
as a proponent of the written word
do you think he rose early
to consider form and function,
rhyme, reason and rice —
like this poet now hungry
for the pork fried variety at 6?
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” ― Margaret Mead
That she would consider it
“the amazing city”
is about as ironic
as the wry half smile
on her 5-year-old face.
She didn’t see the
protests, trials, riots.
(She never does.)
Only the possibilities.
The lofty towers
and filigreed intentions
of a something that
seemed larger than life.
Of a something that indeed
seemed “amazing.”
But what’s in a word?
the poet asks
with a similar smile:
amazing…..astonishing
half…..not wholly true
wry…..sardonic
ironic…..absurd
Waking up beside a mistake
one has little choice but to make the bed
tear off the sheets and start fresh —
hospital-corner fresh —
pillows creased with a firm hand
or
with a broad arc and breath
reset the sheets askew, awry
as if that was the intention all along
messy, made, come what may
Without the luxury
of love,
lone willet
calls into the fog
and I respond,
as if our one and one
make two.
A mystic algebra,
always searching
for the missing,
lone willet
calls into the fog
and I respond.
