Remedial Math
I have spent the weekend thinking
of the dead, those still living
and the might-as-well-be-dead.
These categories are not discrete,
as some people (and things) fit easily
into more than one box.
The dog run over in high school
trotted past bare minutes ago
and the first ex-wife, still raving
somewhere in the Arkansas backwoods,
is just as dead as the passengers
on the Lusitania or Medusa.
There are as many forms of life
as encounters, glances, and
promises. The atlas of Time
becomes unwieldy when it grows
to accommodate all these
categories of being.
I have spent great minutes
learning this algebra of grief.
~
When the Thing that Kills You Keeps You Alive
The midnight beer run becomes
so much more than that.
It becomes a pilgrimage
for a penitent seeking
forgiveness from himself.
The red lights offer time
to reflect on how well
he rises with each swell
while treading this boundless
unforgiving ocean.
~
Invisible
It’s one of those days you don’t exist
and you are happy with that, content
with the prospect of moving across
the landscape unnoticed, like the ghosts
of Confederate widows and the
girl who kissed you in grade school.
You can only crank the windows down,
turn up Bach on public radio,
follow this ribbon all the way
back to yourself.
~
The poetry and prose of Robert L. Penick have appeared in over 200 different literary journals, including The Hudson Review, North American Review, Plainsongs, and Oxford Magazine. The Art of Mercy: New and Selected Poems is now available from Hohm Press, and more of his work can be found at theartofmercy.net