Saturday, October 25, 2008
A Poem for October
It's getting near Halloween so it seems like as good a time as any to post my one pumpkin poem. I read it at the reading last night at DG Wills Books and it was a fun one to read out loud. The reading was fun, all around. It was great to see Oni Buchanan again after, what, about 7 years? She gave a great reading and I was happy to read with her.I'm looking forward to the next reading -- in Boston on November 11th. And to all the readings after that. It's fun to talk poetry again.
Anyway. Here is the pumpkin poem. It also has leaves in it. Very autumnal.
Inc.
Business is booming. It’s booming business.
You bring me a nickel and I give you
either a flower or a mushroom. Lucy
took the flower. All that night she dreamt
of people smiling. Now you, you look
like the kind of guy who could use
something special. I have a pumpkin out back
that might be just your size. Seriously,
what can I do to get you leaving here today
with this pumpkin? It’s worth more
than a nickel but that’s OK. I’ve invested
in leaves and they’re coming in nicely.
I can take a loss now and then for a kid like you,
just starting out. I can tell
there is someone you’re missing. Paint her face
here on the pumpkin and you can walk out
thinking you’ve got one up.
The kept bride. The pumpkin shell.
How do I know? Because I know
it is sad when the light of one thing falls
in the space of another. The streetlights
hung in the early fog like something
beautiful strung up for amusement:
some beautiful novelty. It is sad.
The lamp obliterates the empty desk.
About Me
- Name: Matthew Shindell
- Location: San Diego, California, United States
Matthew Shindell used to live and write in Phoenix, Arizona. He now lives and writes in La Jolla, California.
The Poetry Postcard Project:
Stay tuned to this blog for updates on the status of the Poetry Postcard Project.
Go to the Poetry Postcard Project website to see the project and find out how to participate.
Where are my poems?
Read a PDF of my chapbook, Were something to happen it would be both funny and interesting. Copies of this limited edition chapbook are no longer available.American Letters and Commentary Issue 17 - "Hoo Ta Ta, Hoo Ta"
American Poetry Review July/August 2004 - "It sounds like a saxophone tugging across a field"
Black Warrior Review v30n2 - "Sidekick"
FENCE v6n2 - "Drinking with the Ventriloquist's Dummy" & "Parable of the Boy inside the Deer"
Hayden's Ferry Review #25 - "The Willow"
Hayden's Ferry Review #35 - "The Monkey's Skull: Where Do Good Newsmen Come From?" & "Made Easy"
Jubilat 7 - "But Emerson Says, 'The body is a metre. The eye appreciates finer differences than art can expose."
The Melic Review - "In Short, a Pleasant Day :: The Man Arrives, Hooray!" "The Same Words :: Order of Harpoons," & "A Bird’s Head Rolls Into Two Baskets :: Walkie-Talkie"
No Tell Motel - "Order of Harpoons :: Digitalia :: Dobre Vecher" 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Read my discussion of the poem here.
Northwest Review - "Clink" & "Bear-Caught"
Octopus 4 - "About the Author," "Four Star General" &
"The Day :: Born :: The Red Door"
Pleiades 24:2 - "Speech of Artificio, a Character in My New Play" & "Inc."
Tarpaulin Sky v2n2&3 -
"Two Jokes About Bears"
Unpleasant Event Schedule - "He Called Her Forest (or was it Forest?)" & "The Brain Full of Bourbon (concerning the doctor and the simulation of Switzerland)"
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