October 2016
Gary Glauber
gigwords@gmail.com
gigwords@gmail.com
I live with my wife in a northern exurb of Westchester. My poems derive from human nature and my mind has been shaped by years of pop culture: countless hours of music, films, television, news, and more. Through teaching, I get to share my love of literature and the importance of responsible journalism. My poems and short stories have been published in numerous journals. My first collection, Small Consolations (Aldrich Press), can be found on Amazon.com. A chapbook, Memory Marries Desire, will be out momentarily. It can be ordered at FinishingLinePress.com.
Siren’s Quandary
The problem might seem
a good one to have;
this beauty, a genetic gift,
carefully tended through
health, nutrition, exercise,
and more, might invite
envy, admiration, praise,
and therein lies the rub.
It also seems to unleash
the torrent of strange,
sad imprudent offers
from charlatans and pretenders,
pathetically drawn to connect
against true indicators and
misguided instinct.
Beauty is not a call
for judgment, for touch,
for violence. It often masks
the intelligence, the sweet
generosity, the inner splendor
that shines in spite of this
daily battle against an army of
mansplaining ignoramuses,
wielding lame pick-up lines
sharper than any sword.
Next time the irresistible appears,
stop and duly consider
the predicament of the pretty,
who are more than happy
to see ships pass quietly by,
sailors safely tied to masts.
Caesura
Now he understands
why they say be careful
what you wish for.
His whole high school career
he wished for this,
a class full of the prettiest,
a veritable parade
of pristine pulchritude
to divert and distract,
feed the nightly fantasies,
provide the lore of
endless adolescent yearning.
Yet now, nature’s nasty secret
is teased out as slow reveal.
This lovely tableau unravels
when mouths open to unleash
torrents of trivial self-importance
of bloated egos and idiocy mingling
in revealing detail
about upcoming prom choices
through overtly exaggerated drama:
boyfriends and spray-on tans,
inanity posing as conversation,
the madness of the commonplace,
not a thought approaching
Heidegger’s ontological questions
regarding being in the world.
Instead this truth unmasked
makes him wish anew for silent films,
a diminishment of volume.
Beauty’s ugly side is exposed
in giggling comments
of superior attitudes and judgments.
This unlikely realization
draws him unexpectedly
away from the noisy commotion
to that quiet plain one,
off by herself
in the opposite corner,
perhaps contemplating
Hegel’s absolute idealism,
immanence, transcendence.
Her silent smile
invites him to stop
and rethink the world
of pointless wishes
he had been raised to relish.
Wiser now from knowledge
that beauty emanates
from within to without,
he knows the reverse
doesn’t always follow.
2016 Gary Glauber
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