The imaginative leaps and the stream-of-consciousness are so difficult to pull off and he does this so well. Bob handles this weighty subject matter so deftly that I never felt he was on his soap box and yet I heard him loud and clear. I, too, want to see some tiny cars with fezes. Thank you for sharing this.
Adore this one. Btw, I looked up the Tuba Wars of Upper Silesia & google laughed at me 😂 "I'd like to be outside when the birds punch in" and "Hand-holding for beginners" both sound like the makings of living well, to me. ❤️
'Should we ride bikes as if we're playing tag with the wind?' The line of the century! Oddly enough, I have some craft-gripes in the middle of it--but that ending! What a payoff!
No? Not no. I say yes to other choices. Yes to every choice but war. (Ok, no forced starvation either. And homes for the unhoused where real estate holdings used to be.) Bob is right all the way down until the end, and then I disagree. My favorite image is the blood trying to run away from the heart but also returning all the time. I get the running away part, that makes sense to me, it’s the getting-pulled-back where I struggle, because home to me is a past tense nightmare I’m not convinced is over no matter how many times I burn it down in my mind. And that doesn’t mean I'd burn anyone else’s or go along with it.
So glad you say yes. And it's totally okay to disagree. I think, in his own way, he's saying he's all for choice. I hope you've found a home in poetry. We're really glad you're here, Emma.
Thank you so much Svetlana! I have found poetry to be much more welcoming this time around (I was thrown out of poetry in the 90s, but that’s ages ago, and I won’t hold the grudge). Only Poems is always publishing poems I wish I’d written! Only Poems inspires me to become a better poet.
The imaginative leaps and the stream-of-consciousness are so difficult to pull off and he does this so well. Bob handles this weighty subject matter so deftly that I never felt he was on his soap box and yet I heard him loud and clear. I, too, want to see some tiny cars with fezes. Thank you for sharing this.
You’re welcome, Betsy, and thank you for your precise comments — I totally agree with you!
Adore this one. Btw, I looked up the Tuba Wars of Upper Silesia & google laughed at me 😂 "I'd like to be outside when the birds punch in" and "Hand-holding for beginners" both sound like the makings of living well, to me. ❤️
Thank you for saving me from Google ridicule! I assumed I was just, as usual, ignorant. :)
Haha I had the very similar experience with Google!
'Should we ride bikes as if we're playing tag with the wind?' The line of the century! Oddly enough, I have some craft-gripes in the middle of it--but that ending! What a payoff!
Oh, I love this line so much. One thing I like about him is he doesn't worry about perfection. It feels authentic and always wins me over by the end.
The repetition of "oom pah" 🙌🏻 Also: "Hand-Holding for Beginners for those new to the dream of affection."
Loved these images as well.
Such a good, apropos poem in a time like this.
His work is always so relevant and timely.
I haven’t been this drawn into a poem in a long time — brilliant 💗
So glad this resonated with you.
This is great stuff, Bob! I love its apparent disparateness...and then its Yeatsian "click" at the end.
Yes! He is the master of this!
No? Not no. I say yes to other choices. Yes to every choice but war. (Ok, no forced starvation either. And homes for the unhoused where real estate holdings used to be.) Bob is right all the way down until the end, and then I disagree. My favorite image is the blood trying to run away from the heart but also returning all the time. I get the running away part, that makes sense to me, it’s the getting-pulled-back where I struggle, because home to me is a past tense nightmare I’m not convinced is over no matter how many times I burn it down in my mind. And that doesn’t mean I'd burn anyone else’s or go along with it.
So glad you say yes. And it's totally okay to disagree. I think, in his own way, he's saying he's all for choice. I hope you've found a home in poetry. We're really glad you're here, Emma.
Thank you so much Svetlana! I have found poetry to be much more welcoming this time around (I was thrown out of poetry in the 90s, but that’s ages ago, and I won’t hold the grudge). Only Poems is always publishing poems I wish I’d written! Only Poems inspires me to become a better poet.
Oh I just love this
So glad you enjoyed this poem, Elise.
Me too, Elise!