—Anonymous Photo
OPINIONS
—Alan Britt, Reisterstown, MD
1.
Some opinions are based upon the presumption
that this life is better than the one beyond.
2.
Well
.
.
.
.
perhaps.
But we’ll need a silk parachute,
one large enough for Neptune,
that archaic god of sexual voyages.
3.
The other life involves a late ‘60s coffeehouse,
rooms beehived behind coral curtains,
& music gyrating to the smoke.
4.
Opinions are sometimes valuable.
But knead them against a jasmine shoulder
& they blush an emotion that resembles flour.
Lift them to the light until guavas grow
from their skeletal branches.
5.
Opinions vaporize with insult
then reappear during coffee
whereupon we need new opinions, ones
resembling orchids & scorpions.
6.
Believe in this life?
A worthy profession would be to study
the eyes of arctic wolves, to bathe in their steel blue
for months, & sleep in the ring that orbits
their violent brain before falling in love with snow.
7.
Don’t talk to me about life today.
I should’ve been one in a million,
one in a trillion million.
I long to dream every life.
But knowledge is a strange virtue,
which is why some prefer mildewed meter
over English ivy spiraling an angel’s marble thigh.
8.
Other opinions smell like onions.
__________________
Many thanks to Alan Britt for today’s fine poem! Alan was featured in the Kitchen on Oct. 25, 2017, and he’ll be back with us later in September. For more about him, go to www.pw.org/content/alan_britt_2/.
Today at 2pm: Davis Arts Center Poetry Series features Stan Zumbiel and Heather Hutcheson. That's at F St. and Covell in Davis.
And a reminder that Shawn Pittard and Gary Kruse will be reading at Poetry in Placerville today (plus open mic), 1-3pm, at Love Birds Coffee and Tea on Broadway off Hwy 50 in Placerville. Scroll down to the blue column (under the green column at the right) for info about this and other upcoming poetry events in our area—and note that more may be added at the last minute.
—Medusa