Poet and fabulist John Kucera entertains us with two poems and two fables, an ancient form of narrative intended to entertain and instruct. Compass Clouds and storms hover Over us like a lost thought. A strange idea we once had to build a log cabin together and explore worlds beyond our own. But our lives were surmounted by menial tasks and we never got around to our plans like the campfire and the sunsets and the paintings of a dry winter and the umbrella of youth closing slowly but surely on all these things we remember later in our circles of routine. We were both deserted but they were also forgotten. Our plans, still changing, and guiding us today like the compass above a rooftop and the wolf we patted at the Indian neighbor’s house,…
“Orphan Smile,” The Poetry of Gopal Lahiri
Orphan Smile How hard it is for the stars to weave a story. It breaks through the wall and chain, and then in turn, with eyes closed. Words filter into dark rooms, unnoticeably, to the tune of the evening. It is not unexpected, nor is it striped, wood pencils sketch grey and grey sky. Each strum is a haze that thins and fades, the one who sings with all the heart for a while, is now trapped in the web of memory. Each mirror reflects the orphan smile, what remains is the rising smoke of the pyres. Ancient Palms We must learn to read, to hold them ever among the corn fields of the golden year. Before our eyes, the deep unique shadows take me up…