Lewis Warsh’s poetic vision is just that: a deep seeing. He reports the details that make up the anxious dance of perception and interaction, and the deep engagement the quotidian can hold for us, if we merely pay attention…
by: Lewis Warsh
LITTLE GREEN APPLES
Smile like you mean it.
Let the cards fall
out of the sky.
The snows of Kilimanjaro
melt over night.
“Come out with your hands
up.”
There’s a flood watch advisory
for the tri-state area.
People I used to know take
off their clothing
in a dream. The last line
comes first, with no end in
sight.
My heart is in the right
place at the wrong time.
What else is new?
A package of lemon
wafers
for the long trip home.
A word to the wise,
but no underpants.
AU GRATIN
I mistook you for someone I knew
on the B train
it came on time and then it sat
disconsolate
in the station
and everyone stared into the eyes
of the strangers across the aisle,
men and women both
some with 3-fingered gloves
took the time to apply lip gloss
in preparation for the night ahead
the bed, the distribution rights,
the women in grass skirts
a mountain
of red ants, mock turtle soup
under a low flame.
Lewis Warsh is the author of over thirty volumes of poetry, fiction and autobiography, including Alien Abduction (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2015), One Foot Out the Door: Collected Stories (Spuyten Duyvil, 2014), A Place in the Sun (Spuyten Duyvil, 2014) and Inseparable: Poems 1995-2005 (Granary Books, 2008). He is co-editor of The Angel Hair Anthology (Granary Books, 2001) and editor and publisher of United Artists Books. Mimeo Mimeo #7 (2012) was devoted to his poetry, fiction and collages, and to a bibliography of his work as a writer and publisher. He has taught at Naropa University, The Poetry Project, SUNY Albany and Long Island University (Brooklyn), where he was director of the MFA program in creative writing from 2007-2013 and where he currently teaches.
