Peter A. Weinberg – Poetry

                1.

Reopened wounds
   in an atmosphere of haste
sorrows burn

Your sparks burn,
   sear with despair
with pain

Extra sensitive–
   creaky machines, random noises, flutterings
like melodies for you to hear

Like the melodies
   Schubert heard in such abundance
before he died

A life viewed from inside
   seems a series of defeats—
hard times

To the scrape of forks on metal plates
   to the sparks in his heart at night
Inexhaustible melody

                2.

Happiness gone
   it’s a band-aid over hurt
this particular joy

No struggling man must,
   legally, dive into the pool
and save a drowning child

There are no hidden messages
   In prison they don’t expect him
to speak, think, or grasp

No drowning child must,
   legally, jump out of the pool
to save a struggling man

Simplicity obscures things
   Fascists are simple
Preconceived patterns chafe

What’s in plain view so hard to grasp
   Keep your word
remember your promises

                   3.

I feed the wolf because
   the wolf is me
No hidden messages, no

We’re not swans, you know
   wired to bond for life
We don’t love like that

Our souls entwined for a time
   now my enemy,
she was always my enemy

I look for the hidden
   the chimera
the lost

Her life hard, brutish, cruel
   Today I’m her lifeline
Tomorrow, nothing

Photographs would freeze time
   If you start making love to doorknobs,
you’re too old and it’s time to die

-June 13, 2010-