ARROW TO THE SUN
Slow time, fast time, I dunno what.
It’s alla same to me. Here today,
here tomorrow. Then nothin’.
Believe me, I got a life like that.
Depends on what you listen to, right?
Me, I like the tinkle of ice
ina tall glass of vodka. You know
the sound it makes when you try
to bring it to your lips. Ah, Jesus!
Sometimes I listen to my cat’s heart.
She be layin’ ona my lap.
It’s real slow. One beat
maybe to two of my breaths.
Slow time, fast time, who knows.
The same hum always ina background.
MONDAY MORNIN’ QUARTERBACK
People is dyin’ alla time.
I don’t get it.
You’re breathin’ one minute.
Then you ain’t.
Don’t make no sense.
I mean why start somethin’
if you already know the end?
God oughta done better than that.
Stashu Kapinski Strikes Out
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Stashu Kapinski, the guy who wrote these poems, is a sometime bum living in my skin. He doesn't get out much, but when you hear (and smell) him, you know he's noone else. He's pissed about a lot of things--being out of work for so long, the steel mills in Pittsburgh closing down, getting old, the price of beer, you name it. But he hasn't given up. There are still moments when he feels like the King of Polish Hill.
From 1986-1996, Joseph Lisowski was Professor of English at The University of the Virgin Islands; he is now teaching at Elizabeth City State University. His detective fiction novel, LOOKING FOR LISA, has just been published by Fiction Works |
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