Thursday, September 10, 2009

bloodlines

fractional Cherokee blood coursing
she stood the ladder
painting on high
four and a half feet
beyond fear

off to the side with pride in my eye
envious of her heritage advantage
i watched from my perspective
as a humble full blood
Kielbasa

2 comments:

Julie said...

I love it, Jack. Kielbasa took me by surprise (in a good way). I really like the fearless nature of the "she" in the poem and the narrator's admiration.

Have you read Ed Galing's chapbook, Diner? It is a beautiful collection of poems about diners he visited. It reminded me of you, not only because of the subject matter, but also because of the voice. You can see it at Propoganda Press (for full disclosure, leah's my friend, but the work she publishes is awesome). I'll do a post about it when I get my act together a bit.

Good work again. Oh, I also meant to say I love the egg poem below. They're all wonderful, but certain ones jump out and grab me:)

Annie said...

Hi Jack, I like this one, too. The tone and the humor work together well. "Fractional Cherokee blood coursing, she stood the ladder painting on high four and a half feet beyond fear." Even without breaking up the lines, the sound and rhythm breaks it up, and you can "hear" the voice of the poet.