February 2019
Robert Wexelblatt
wexelblatt@verizon.net
wexelblatt@verizon.net
Author's Note: Here's another set of verses from the cycle of Mrs. Podolski’s passing commentaries on life.
Mrs. Podolski’s Critique of Judgment
Certainty’s the clothesline on which we pin
the wash of our unmentionable doubt;
the dubious laundry we take in to make
believe we’re sure of what we’re sure about.
Men love football and absolutes; they relish
games with the absurdest rules, disputes
furnishing their chief fun; what one gaily
asserts another merrily refutes
until they come convivially to blows
and end the evening bloody, arm-in-arm,
still wrangling over whether he was in
or out of bounds, fair or foul, right or wrong.
Men boast they need just the facts and the law
to transfix the truth and fill the jails,
to know who’s responsible and what for—
but we women require more details.
Men guillotine the past and future, shoot
snapshots; for us events are not discrete
like eggs lined up or artillery shells
but spill into a story; life’s not neat.
Was it to lunch or dinner he asked her
out? Was it for Friday or Saturday?
Did she aim to wound him by choosing that
dress, not phoning before she went away?
How did he feel about the man he shot
in the stomach, and did his mother love
him less than cigarettes, truck drivers, beer?
Did he mean it? What can laws and facts prove?
You shouldn’t be too quick to judge, my dear,
especially when you’re sure you’ve all the facts.
Bear in mind that cut flowers must be arranged
and how the bird’s tale differs from the cat’s.
“Mrs. Podolski’s Critique of Judgment” first appeared in Innisfree Poetry Journal
© 2018 Robert Wexelblatt
© 2018 Robert Wexelblatt
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the author (email address above) to tell him or her. You might say what it is about the poem that moves you. Writing to the author is the beginning of community at Verse Virtual. It is very important. -FF