Three Poems by Michael La Bombarda

 

CAMPBELL’S TOMATO SOUP CAN 

 

Even before Andy Warhol

Made me famous,

I was famous

And I am famous still.

I am the apple

Of every mother’s eye

And my contents

Have been consumed

By all Americans,

Especially in the winter.

 

Whatever you may say of Andy,

He knew a good thing

When he found one

And painted me

In the bright colors

You had known to recognize

But had never seen

Until he hung them

Within a frame

In a gallery.

 

If only I would have thought

Of it myself,

I’d be both immortal

And rich.

Can you see the headlines,

Soup Can Paints Self-Portrait?

 

 

CONFESSION 

 

My pursuit

Of Marguerite

Has always been my pursuit

Of my mother tongue,

French,

Even when I spilled out

My feelings for her

In torrents of stammering

Monosyllables

I was unable to do it in French

But in the monosyllabic-friendly

English.

 

II

 

Marguerite

In brown hair

And brown eyes

Is the embodiment

Of my Gallic quest

For enlightenment,

Whether cerebral

Or carnal.

I find her pretty,

As she remains in my eye

Always eighteen years old,

The last time I saw her.

When I read French

I think of her sometimes,

Though lately

I think of what I’m reading,

So Marguerite has served her purpose.

She has given me back my mother tongue,

Which is not meant to be exploitative,

But to be grateful for my gift.

UNFAITHFUL 

 

Like a white flake of snow

Dissolving into water,

The image persisting—

 

Your boat sailed into the horizon

And was gone from view

As the water kept vigil.

 

Resurrected by memory

From many years past,

You disappeared in shame of infidelity.

 

Now my life is split terracotta--

The deep and jagged cracks

Running in my copper urn.

 

Michael La Bombarda - is a poet and fiction writer. He is retired and lives in New York City. He has published in Publlic Illumination Magazine, Danse Macabre, Yellow Chair, Kiss My Poetry, Oddball Magazine, and First Literary Review East, and the Landmark, and has two books of poetry published, Steady Hands and A Lover’s Complaint, both with Chez Michel Press,his own press.