Three Poems by Zvi A. Sesling

 

A Knock In The Night     

 

A knock in the night and I wonder

if it is her returning

 

Returning from where, a lover, a bar

she has been somewhere

 

Since the moon’s dish rose over the city

and the dog howled in protest

 

her side of the bed has been abandoned

now refrigerator cold matching her affection

 

Can the knock in the night be her returning

or the police bringing bad news

 

Is the knock in the night in my head

the door is shut forever

 

She who has knocked my ego and self respect

knocks on the door

Beethoven At Night

 

The lonely street light

sifting through fog, echoes of the day

clinging to buildings, children

sleeping in dark rooms, parents

watching television, lovers making

love, an occasional truck rumbles

like a kettle drum, footsteps clopping

on pavement, the dark street where

the brave walk home listening to

Beethoven ignoring what night might bring

Ambush

 

The east coast beaches

are strewn with people

and trash as sea gulls

patrol the sand looking for edibles

then retreat to the water

 

Occasionally great white sharks

patrol the depths of the east coast

water looking for their favorite

morsel, seals

 

The unwary sea gull happily

bobbing on waves while digesting

purloined human leftover trash

is sometimes ambushed from

beneath, the eater becoming the eaten

Zvi A. Sesling was Poet Laureate of Brookline, MA. (2017-2020). He has published numerous poems and flash fiction. He edits Muddy River Poetry Review, He is author of War Zones, The Lynching of Leo Frank, Fire Tongue and King of the Jungle and three chapbooks Simple Game, Baseball Poems; Love Poems From Hell and Across Stones of Bad Dreams.  He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize five times and his books have been nominated for national and local awards. Sesling’s flash fiction/micro fiction book is due for release in fall 2021 from Cervena Barva Press. He lives in Brookline, MA with his wife Susan J. Dechter.