May 2018
After teaching at a college in South Florida for thirty years, I retired, and my wife and I moved halfway across the country. Some of my poems have appeared recently in such journals as The Comstock Review, Main Street Rag, San Pedro Review, and South Florida Poetry Journal. Check out my author's page on Facebook or go to my blog at http://www.michaelminassian.com
IN THE BACK YARD I FOUND A ROTARY PHONE
“Pope Rips Mafia; Mob Responds with Dead Lamb”
-newspaper headline, 1994
Quite unexpectedly
the phone rang -
in the hum of the garden
it did not seem
out of place;
flowers stood about
at the end of their wits,
and sunlight
dappled through the tops
and branches of trees;
the blue green grass,
measured by insects & spiders,
tiny gods in aero planes,
butterflies & dragon flies,
approached my waiting ear,
as I answered in my own voice:
“she told me she was no angel -
I never saw any wings;
I searched her body
inside & out;
call me back
when you find the pope’s teeth
when you feel the lamb’s kiss.”
Originally appeared in slightly different form in my Chapbook, The Arboriculturist, 2010.
© 2018 Michael Minassian
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