Beware!

—Anonymous Photo

BEWARE: DO NOT READ THIS POEM
—Ishmael Reed

tonite, thriller was
about an old woman, so vain she
surrounded herself with
        many mirrors

it got so bad that finally she


locked herself indoors & her


whole life became the

        mirrors

one day the villagers broke


into her house, but she was too


swift for them. she disappeared

        into a mirror
each tenant who bought the house
after that, lost a loved one to
       the old woman in the mirror:
       first a little girl
       then a young woman
       then the young woman's husband

the hunger of this poem is legendary


it has taken in many victims


back off from this poem


it has drawn in your feet


back off from this poem


it has drawn in your legs
back off from this poem


it is a greedy mirror

you are into this poem from  

 

       the waist down
nobody can hear you can they?
this poem has had you up to here
       belch
this poem aint got no manners
you cant call out from this poem
relax now & go with this poem

move & roll on to this poem


do not resist this poem


this poem has your eyes


this poem has his head


this poem has his arms


this poem has his fingers


this poem has his fingertips

this poem is the reader & the


reader the poem

statistic: the US bureau of missing persons re-

        ports that in 1968 over 100,000 people
        disappeared leaving no solid clues
        nor trace     only
a space     in the lives of their friends

_____________________

Two readings in our area today: Sac. Poetry Center presents Anara Guard and Lois Ann Abraham for Prose in the Afternoon, 25th & R Sts., Sac., 4-5:30pm. And Poetry of the Sierra Foothills features Sally Ashton, Wren Tuatha plus open mic at Caffé Santoro in Diamond Springs, 1-3pm. Scroll down to the blue column (under the green column at the right) for info about these and other upcoming poetry events in our area—and note that more may be added at the last minute.

For more about Ishmael Reed, go to his website at ishmaelreed.org, including his bio at ishmaelreed.org/drupal/node/1/.

For a comprehensive list of “Poems on Poems” by Ted Nellen, see www.tnellen.com/cybereng/poetry/.

—Medusa, wandering around inside of the poem ~

Photos in this column can be enlarged by
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.