November 2021
Bio Note: I am the East Region VP of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, and I represent that organization on the Wisconsin Poet Laureate Commission. In 2018 I received the Lorine Niedecker Prize for Poetry from the Council for Wisconsin Writers (judged by Nickole Brown). My first publication was in 2009 at the age of 60, after 40 years in manufacturing, union activity, and workforce development work.
Hope Molts
I wonder if Emily,
had she lived in this century,
would have written about hope
with any optimism.
Hope seems to have lost
its feathers. And if it had feathers,
it couldn't fly anyway.
And if it could fly,
it wouldn't perch near me.
I seem to have misplaced my soul.
Left/Right Poem
I love my left knee.
It’s not a great knee,
but it’s the only knee
I have.
My right knee has been
taken from me,
like some civil liberty.
I imagine it is on display
in some medical museum somewhere.
I imagine the card identifying it states:
Most worn out human joint in history.
©2021 Ed Werstein
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