I Caught A Shark

It was late in October and
I was vacationing
down the Jersey Shore
when I found myself driving
to one of my favorite
fishing spots at the far end
of the Long Port pier

I had gone on impluse
having poorly
planned the day
and I did not have any
bait for my hook
and all of the local
bait and tackle shops
had already closed
for the season

There were
other fishermen
on the pier
already at work
trying their luck
so I thought
I would ask them
to share their bait
with one of their own

No such luck
they said as
they all jealously guarded
their individual stash while
laughing at me for thinking
I could go fishing with no bait

I said that Jesus
would provide me with bait
(after all he had a fondness for
men who fished the seas
or so I have been told)

The day wore on
and I fished with an empty hook
yet not even a nibble
(well what did you expect
mocked my fellow
fishermen apostles)
when suddenly
the Chinese man
next to me
pulled up a
baby sand shark
(not much of a catch
to men who
were intent on catching
a more edible fish)
Throw him back
they warned
before he takes a finger

I had a better idea
Why not cut up the
shark for bait
and we could all share
the spoils
a suggestion that was
quickly approved by the others
and I was given the honor
of doing the deed
for us all

I picked up my
trusty gutting knife and
turned the shark
belly side up
ready to
slice him open
when
like Abraham
something bigger than me
stayed my hand

As I craddled the shark's
perfectly evolved body
I could sense
his life force
even through my
wet frozen fingers
and I could feel
his perfectly toned muscles
as he wriggled and struggled
to save his own life

My fellow fishermen apostles
incredulously watched as
I suddenly
tossed the squirming
baby shark
back into the sea
where he swam away
with renewed vigor

Why'd you do that
the others asked
You're the one
who wanted him for bait

I just shrugged
my shoulders
too embarrassed to say
that I was still able
to feel the shark's
beating heart
even through
the frost bitten
numbness of my
cold dead hands

jhmarkowitz
Philadelhia, Pa. 2013

My Still Achy Breaky Heart

"Happy, happy birthday, baby
Although you're with somebody new
Thought I'd drop a line to say
That I wish this happy day
Would find me beside you"-
Popular song lyrics

Yes, my heart
is still breaking
(yes even after
all these years)
still again  today
for all of my lost loves
(although more for some
than for others)
but all of them
still near and dear
to my easily seduced and
easily cuckolded
achy breaky heart

Sometimes I cannot help
but to cry
over all of the spilled milk
of bygone kisses
and caresses
the perfumed remembrances
of falling nylons and
unzippered dresses
of passionate love making sessions
in all sort of sordid locations
and then forcing myself
to go to confession
early the next morning
(at least to the man
in the mirror
if to no one else)

Looking back
I seem to have
an unbriddled knack for
creating havoc
and wreckage
in most
(if not all)
of my romantic escapades
(winner take all
erotic contests of
will and ego and
briused emotions and feelings)

Perhaps it is because
I have never properly learned
how to drive down
the super expressway of life
(always looking for
the nearest exits and the
shortest of short cuts)

Going that fast
it is easy to miss
the turn off
like the one up ahead
that reads

Peace and Serenity
Next exit...

jhmarkwitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2013

Dispassionate Shades Of Blue

Blue blue
dispassionate shades of blue
singing lonely folk songs
in my white socks and
smelly feet

Feeling blue
need to be blue
singing lonely folk songs
in my white socks and
smelly feet

And the gull's cry
is a lonely cry
as I walk along
the water's edge
singing lonely folk songs
in my white socks and
smelly feet

"It's hip to be miserable
when you're young
and intellectual
in a fit
you'll admit
you're a misfit!"

Personally
I am giving very serious thought
to growing either a van dyke
or a very pointy goatee...

Yo Mon...
please don't bogie that dube!

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2013

It Was Bound To Happen

It was bound to happen
every time the
powers that be
mess with the
space time continuum
bodies get splayed out
and turn up
scattered everywhere
at the shopping mall
at LAX
another elementary school here
another high school there
home invasions
no known motives
no goods taken
but innocent blood shed
nonetheless
senselessly
for no apparent reason
cars wrapping themselves
around trees
overturned tractor trailers
spilling their cargoes
ten thousand pounds of
tomatoes spilled across the
expressway
tying up traffic for
hours on end
people sleep deprived and
on edge
on medications
of all sorts

Daylight Savings Time
they call it
Spring forward
Fall backwards
and then hit the deck
as our bleary eyed neighbors
nerves frayed to the breaking point
reaching for pistols
knives and shotguns
turning on their own
spouses
children
the old folks at home
the good people
next door and
down the lane
and very often on
themselves

Messing with
the Space Time Continuum
makes people nervous
gets everything out of whack
best to roll over in bed and
hit the snooze alarm
maybe this time
maybe next time
it won't feel so bad

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2013

What Am I Ever Going To Do In Paris

I want to revisit
gay Paris
where I spent
my misspent youth
studying at
the Sorbonne and
sundry faculties of
the University of Paris
Oriental Languages
Political Science
Phonetics
French
Historty
Art
Cinema
Falling in love

I want to be
twenty one again
I want to fall asleep
and wake up with
a full head of hair
a disease free and
pain free body
a youthful libido
money in my pocket

Not to mention
hours on end wandering
the hallowed halls of
The Louvre
Boulevard St. Michelle
Montparnasse
Rue Moufftarde
Notre Dame Cathedral
Garden de Luxembourg
Champs Elysee
Place du Lion
General LeClerc
Ile de la Cite
shopping all day
at Bon Marche and
Le Printemps
riding the Metro
Gare du Lyon
Orly
Charles de Gaulle
Boulevard Peripherique
Quartier Latin

I would like to again taste
Crepe Suzette
Sandwich Jambon
munch on a
creamy Camembert and
freshly baked baguette
sip some wine
smoke Gitanes
sip cognac
sit for hours
at sidewalk cafes
reading
Baudlaire
Mauriac
Verlaine
Camus
Sartre
Moliere
Shakespeare
Le Figaro
Le Monde
Le Canard Enchaine
Cahiers de Cinema

I would like to
chase the ghosts of
lovers long lost
along the quays of
Le Seine
watching the
bateau mouche
float serenely beneath
Le Pont Neuf
to once again enjoy
the view from the top of
the Eiffel Tower

I want to once again
spend hours
haunting the old
movie theatres
in the old banlieus
watching
Godard
Renais
Belmondo
Jean Seberg
Catherine Deneuve
Depardieu
Jacques Tati
Jerry Lewis
Belle de Jour
A Nous La Liberte
A Bout de Souffle

Should the good fortune
ever again befall me
what ever am I
going to do in Paris?

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2013

What Is Poetry?

Poetry is the way
our species
collectively
learns how
to howl
at the moon

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2013

The Spider Web Entanglements Of The Human Heart

More's the pity
this spiteful
vengeful and jealous
heart of mine
cutting through the thicket
breaking off the overgrown vines
to reveal a veritable
jungle of
buried regrets
love affair hangovers
more regrets
vats of bitterness
distilled by time
into a vinegrette
of emotional spices and
chopped up lies

I do wish that
I had been a better person
charging down the
white water rapids
of my life
but at that
breakneck speed
of descent
toward the inevitalbe
fate of the
oncoming falls
I did a lot of
collateral damage that
I sincerely regret

But there are no
do overs in life
only left overs

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2013