Two Fabulous Poems by Louis Kasatkin

A Tiny Poem of Disquiet

 

What if the words that you're reading

somehow are changed and rearranged

by the time you get around

to reading this poem again?

Have they not altered

subtly even since

you began reading?

Poems are not novels

where you have to turn a page,

though they do that by themselves

deceiving their readers into believing

that they are reading it

and not as is true

the novel reading them;

But a poem,

surely not?

then again

what if the words you're reading

never change?

 

 

What Obeying The Law Entails

 

Their daughters worked the “Viper Room”

until four a.m.

there’s only charred wreckage

on the spot where it stood,

the Fire Department logged the call

at four thirty-one a.m.

forensics revealed the fire

started much earlier;

seven bodies were found,

shocked the township

newspapers said,

sympathy and flowers

were slow in coming

grieving relatives left much unsaid;

the Priest read from Deuteronomy,

something about cutting down groves,

amongst those listening

some involuntarily wiped their hands,

in case the kerosene smell

lingered.

Louis Kasatkin is founder of Destiny Poets in the UK and Editorial Administrator at www.destinypoets.co.uk For more than 20 years a Poet and Poetry promoter, Louis has been Poet-in-Residence at Wakefield Cathedral and workshop leader in schools and the wider local community.