who?

These two poems were initially published in Freshet, the Fresh Meadows Poets Annual, and are reprinted here by permission of the poet, who retains all rights.

intro

when my poems turn into people

is when I vanish from earth

then they will arrange a surprise

gathering at my new house

and as they wait for me to arrive

the love poems will console

the poems of sorrow

with a hand on their shoulders

and a sympathetic nod

the strange poems will stand

or sit in the corner just drinking punch

watching everyone

waiting for their time with me,

and the unfinished ones

will be children running around

yelling my name

daddy!  daddy’s here!

as I slowly open the door

Nirvana

is there a dead lamb in your laundry sack?

you wonder as you trudge towards the Laundromat

carrying it on your back

you’re positive that five minutes ago

you put clothes in the sack, but now you doubt;

there might be a dead lamb

because of how heavy it sags,

pulling your back back

straightening it out.

out of all the images in the world,

you chose one that is grotesque.

why?

when you know you need a living lamb

to shake in the sack

so that doing the laundry

wouldn’t be such a task

as you carry it

her head could pop out,

lick your neck

to make you giggle

like when you were little,

and you’d forget

the weight you drag around

all poems © 1999 Camillo DiMaria