Paul Siegell (Philly, Pa): Three Poems
*ANSWER: A NEW ERA*
the road otherworldly, “anyone else wanna see themselves
******on tv?”
the road otherworldly, crisis leadership and a discount on
******decisions when we’d really rather pay full price
the road otherworldly, sometimes everything in the salad
******tastes like produce grown on another planet
pick up a couple even tho they might be slightly troublesome
the road otherworldly, truckers who haul hazardous cargo
the road otherworldly, hurried the urine shot through urethra
the road otherworldly, to be gradually gravitating toward
******“Nothing. What’s new with you?”
from the rooftops we watch for the meteors of metaphor
the road otherworldly, Abraham, Alabama, iIn my tears for
*****America: today just needs to get on with it and let us
*********go already
the road otherworldly, poem Obama, Optimus Prime, Obama
******on Mount Olympus: (shepherd a breathtaking backfire?)
*all the hopes for Obama bohemia—
the road otherworldly, my coworker just sneezed
*SCENE AT DUNG GATE*
With prayers left in the crevices, tour-guided Americans lean against
stone, lick vanilla, speak of Wailing Wall and how incredible.
Bareback on a beast, a Palestinian boy plods up, shows off for the brand named,
whacks his donkey’s neck with a stick, quick, made from black irrigation tubing.
“—Whoa!” go the Americans.
Smirks. Goes around the corner.
Tzit tzit dangling, yarmulke’d yeshiva boys carry planks of wood
into the Old City for Lag B’Omer bonfires. Picnic festive and family full.
Little, they use the wall, masonry a few feet high, to slide the planks and rest.
Ice cream Americans smile, say Shalom, giggle with and get outta their way.
Returned, boy-with-burden meets boys-with-firewood and the Holy Land
comes out of camouflage.
Each in each other’s way. Language is used. Grips on the planks of wood
change, tighten, raise, as does the irrigation tube—
“—Yeladim!” detonates down from an apartment window above.
“—Yeladim! Yeladim!” a barrel chest yells. Yeladim means children.
*IT IS ITS SELF TO BE*
out of an avid gale, a hurricane of shape-shifting persuasion, the line
“of being born a trumpet” steers its sharps into the audience of dance
moves & their domain names: am I not the notes being played as well?
no ordinary hit a-the old http://, such weight of wakeful conversation:
out of the clarion lift, in the calisthenics of the scenery, wide breaths
[esc] toward something
the road otherworldly, “anyone else wanna see themselves
******on tv?”
the road otherworldly, crisis leadership and a discount on
******decisions when we’d really rather pay full price
the road otherworldly, sometimes everything in the salad
******tastes like produce grown on another planet
pick up a couple even tho they might be slightly troublesome
the road otherworldly, truckers who haul hazardous cargo
the road otherworldly, hurried the urine shot through urethra
the road otherworldly, to be gradually gravitating toward
******“Nothing. What’s new with you?”
from the rooftops we watch for the meteors of metaphor
the road otherworldly, Abraham, Alabama, iIn my tears for
*****America: today just needs to get on with it and let us
*********go already
the road otherworldly, poem Obama, Optimus Prime, Obama
******on Mount Olympus: (shepherd a breathtaking backfire?)
*all the hopes for Obama bohemia—
the road otherworldly, my coworker just sneezed
*SCENE AT DUNG GATE*
With prayers left in the crevices, tour-guided Americans lean against
stone, lick vanilla, speak of Wailing Wall and how incredible.
Bareback on a beast, a Palestinian boy plods up, shows off for the brand named,
whacks his donkey’s neck with a stick, quick, made from black irrigation tubing.
“—Whoa!” go the Americans.
Smirks. Goes around the corner.
Tzit tzit dangling, yarmulke’d yeshiva boys carry planks of wood
into the Old City for Lag B’Omer bonfires. Picnic festive and family full.
Little, they use the wall, masonry a few feet high, to slide the planks and rest.
Ice cream Americans smile, say Shalom, giggle with and get outta their way.
Returned, boy-with-burden meets boys-with-firewood and the Holy Land
comes out of camouflage.
Each in each other’s way. Language is used. Grips on the planks of wood
change, tighten, raise, as does the irrigation tube—
“—Yeladim!” detonates down from an apartment window above.
“—Yeladim! Yeladim!” a barrel chest yells. Yeladim means children.
*IT IS ITS SELF TO BE*
out of an avid gale, a hurricane of shape-shifting persuasion, the line
“of being born a trumpet” steers its sharps into the audience of dance
moves & their domain names: am I not the notes being played as well?
no ordinary hit a-the old http://, such weight of wakeful conversation:
out of the clarion lift, in the calisthenics of the scenery, wide breaths
[esc] toward something
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