August 2018
Marc Alan Di Martino
marcdimartino@gmail.com
marcdimartino@gmail.com
Having grown up on the East Coast of the United States, I now live in Perugia, Italy, where I work as a teacher of the English language. I have been writing poetry since 1998, and published my first poems in Pivot - now defunct - in 2000. Since then my work has been published in Rattle, Poetry Salzburg Review and other places. My favorite thing about writing poetry is the chain of unforeseen discoveries that happen during composition - like going to bed in one place and waking up in another - which never fail to produce a sense of wonder in me.
NOTE: This poem was inspired by Kristin Tracy's "Vampires Today". When I mentioned via Twitter that I liked her poem, she kindly suggested the world needed more vampire poems. I took that as a challenge, and this was the result. My challenge to anyone reading this is that the world needs more skateboarding poems. Any takers?
NOTE: This poem was inspired by Kristin Tracy's "Vampires Today". When I mentioned via Twitter that I liked her poem, she kindly suggested the world needed more vampire poems. I took that as a challenge, and this was the result. My challenge to anyone reading this is that the world needs more skateboarding poems. Any takers?
Somebody Suggested the World Needed More Vampire Poems, So I Wrote One
-for Kristin Tracy
My sixteen year-old niece says she’s finally finished
with them. Vampires, that is. She’s all grown up
now. She’s tossed out that pair of white plastic teeth
she used to frighten me with, those glow-in-the-dark fangs
from the costume shop. They tasted like old ketchup.
Her prized collection of Harry Potter books
has cozied up to tales of death and vengeance,
the kind that lead you toward philosophy
not shopping malls. Even her bedroom wall
projects a morbid serenity it never had
before. I gave her a Vampire Weekend album
on vinyl, thinking she’d get it but she just said
Thanks but what am I supposed to do with this
my mom threw out your old turntable
years ago.
Somebody Suggested the World Needed More Vampire Poems, So I Wrote One
-for Kristin Tracy
My sixteen year-old niece says she’s finally finished
with them. Vampires, that is. She’s all grown up
now. She’s tossed out that pair of white plastic teeth
she used to frighten me with, those glow-in-the-dark fangs
from the costume shop. They tasted like old ketchup.
Her prized collection of Harry Potter books
has cozied up to tales of death and vengeance,
the kind that lead you toward philosophy
not shopping malls. Even her bedroom wall
projects a morbid serenity it never had
before. I gave her a Vampire Weekend album
on vinyl, thinking she’d get it but she just said
Thanks but what am I supposed to do with this
my mom threw out your old turntable
years ago.
© 2018 Marc Alan Di Martino
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