Sunday, November 3, 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

Friday, October 4, 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

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

What Is Poetry?

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

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2013

Monday, September 30, 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

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Point Blank

They're shooting
each other
here in Philadelphia
at the rate of
two or three or four per day
most of the guns
are illegally bought and sold
and traded
on the back streets
of every major city
in America

We are told that
there are
some 300 million guns
in private hands
one for every
man, woman and child
in the USA

And they are shooting
each other
almost every night
at point blank range
in the head
in the neck
in the back
in the face
in the groin
all the livelong day

Drugs and gangs
mental illness
poverty and despair
suicidal acting out
some wishing to die
at the hands of the police
(protect and serve)
or at the hands of
a drug king rival
contract hits
killings to silence witnesses
revenge shootings
domestic violence
you name it
we have them all

And given the fact that
Congress cannot
seem to muster the courage to
pass new gun control laws
(thanks in large part
to the incessant lobbying
of the NRA)
the national murder rate
continues to climb
and no one in America
is safe from
gun violence

So can I interest you
in a handy-dandy
saturday night special?
(for your own
self protection
of course)

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2013

Monday, August 19, 2013

Enola Gay

Look up
Hiroshima
Nagasaki
cherry blossoms of
hot ash fall
burning the skin and
blinding the eye

We all saw
the flash
that left
human shadows
imprinted
on the wall
and that was all
that was left of
family and friends

High above the city
the Enola Gay flies
like a moth drawn
to the flame

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2013

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Apple Green

I found the little town of
Apple Green
quite by accident
having taken
a side trek off of
the beaten path

I was riding on the
Toonerville Trolley
when I decided to
get off some
two stops
short of the
end of the line

I happened to
catch a glance
of a small hut
(a tiny house really)
out of the
corner of my eye
and I thought
to myself
hmmmm
this is a place
I have never seen before

I was delighted
that this little town had
a little town library
complete with
that rarest of species
a librarian
with owl-like glasses
comfy sweater
her hair swept up neatly
in an impeccable bun

I wandered next
into a nearby
coffee shop
the only one that
I could see
and I ordered
a large cafe latte
but all that I received
was a cup
of freshly brewed coffee
along with a very pleasant
and welcoming smile

Where exactly am I?
I asked the waitress

Don't you know?
she replied
You are in
the town of
Apple Green

Then she asked me
if I'd taken the
Toonerville Trolly
to get there

When I told her
that yes I had
she put down
her order pad and pencil
Then she leaned
towards me and
stared straight
into my eyes
over the brim
of her glasses

That's quite remarkable
she said
Why's that?
I asked

The Toonerville Trolley
she said
has not stopped in
the town of
Apple Green
for the past
forty years

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2013