Character Is Fate
“The only joy in the world is to begin.”
— Cesare Pavese
a bald tire
on a patch of ice
the world turns
a dry martini
civilization
and its discontents
jobless men
drifting in a void
storm clouds
refugees
boxed in and labelled
to expedite shipping
newspaper horrors
in a discarded drum
matches soaked with rain
rosebush
a raindrop on each
thorn
a horse’s tail
shoos away the flies
climate change
a juicy hamburger
in a mushy bun
cable news
gone fishing
the conspiracist
opens another can of worms
smiles
at the rally
shining like knives
hungry for power
the autocrat repeals
a banana
war
a fistful of ashes
in a game of dice
dark waters
embrace a dead moon
peace talks
after the accident
the brothers reconcile
cane and able
birds fly
from an empty well
the sky’s indifferent blue
skylight
in the penthouse
so far beneath the stars
life after death
the hidden truth
maggots
That Sweet Smelling Aftershave
I watch the barber
raise his straight razor
and the books fall from the shelves
and the glasses from the cabinet
and the earthquake siren blares
and I wonder which movie is real
or whether it is just
another close shave
The Heron
In wet sand
the heron leaves
for a moment
her footprints
the graceful movements
of her beak
and her long white neck
compose a poem in air
that erases itself
with each gesture
of morning light
Seal of Approval
She fans herself with a trowel she found in the basement of an old house that once belonged to Edgar Allan Poe – or so she says. I can’t really trust her, but she pays the bills, and I am just about finished with my novel. A surprise ending, a couple of edits here and there, and then I can go back to the wax museum, where they keep a candle burning in the window. I will be famous then. And once the cement dries, so will she.
An Odyssey
Here I am on a Greek island 3000 years ago. I have no idea what happened, but there sure are a lot of good-looking ladies here. The problem is they all sound like they’re on their way to a fire. But they seem to like me. Just yesterday I was Nobody and now I’m Rudolph Valentino. They keep telling me to take the wax out of my ears and relax. My horse came in and I’m set for life. But something’s just not right. I’ve seen this movie before, and I know the best thing to do is to concentrate on my navel and hum. Sometimes it takes a while – but before I know it my clarion call girls are back, insisting that I tell them all about the latest hits.
Robert Witmer has lived in Japan for the past 45 years. Now an emeritus professor, he has had the opportunity to teach courses in poetry and creative writing not only at his home university in Tokyo but also in India. His poems and prose poetry have appeared in many print and online journals and books. His first book of poetry, a collection of haiku titled Finding a Way, was published in 2016. A second book of poetry, titled Serendipity, was published earlier this year (2023).
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