by: Aaron Simon
Like meditation, these final three poems by Aaron Simon bring our attention, again and again, to the moment just as it slips away, while also reminding us that “things are happening elsewhere, too.”
OPPOSITE SIGNS
It’s necessary for me
to dislike certain people
the ascetic especially
I can’t do much for them
other than set the record straight
De Chirico was an accomplished dreamer
a man among puppets
the only bright-side
of a dimly lit room
Space affords curiosity
when the past becomes providence
something to read in the evening
just before turning in
This strange iconophilia
flings me into despair:
Fire God and Wooden Boy
embracing under the moon
JERUSALEM
As I exit the 3rd Century Coptic Church
an Arab kid calls me a nigger
I laugh but carry with me the weight
that there are many things I can never understand
ELEVATED MOOD
Lost in transition
like a half-baked reprise
Brooklyn sets itself
to the neighborhood watch
put on your bonnet, I told her
composing these reasons for elation
my scallions are coming up
it’s almost time for cold soups
reason enough to stick around for Easter
though things are happening elsewhere, too
across Greenpoint Ave.
Poles leave their mass
but it feels like Saturday
when my jacket became a sail
and I tried to break a 20
to get quarters for the Times
Aaron Simon is the author of Carrier (Insurance Editions, 2006), Periodical Days (Green Zone Editions, 2007), and most recently, Senses Himself (Green Zone, 2014). These poems featured here at Across the Margin are from forthcoming Rain Check Poems, by BlazeVOX (Buffalo, NY). Look out for it!
Header art is, once again, by the incredibly talented Teun Hocks.
