Ease The Need To Feed From Weed
Not taking a road with the loves of my life
for granted, I call her Sweetie and act thusly
each gentle moment much as Icarus can.
And she initiates and reciprocates
at least more than equally.
One of these days, perhaps as early as
current septuagenarians, maybe a bit later,
we will be forced to trade in our drivers
licenses and moi will be left with his
full-fledged poetic licentiousness.
In pursuit of remaining truly alive,
my good wife of nearly a half-century
plus each of our children’ve come
along joining those ex/ internal
heart mind and soul journeys
to various degrees depending on
their personal situations plus druthers.
On the whole once becoming
mothers, a switch turns off
to defer adventure travel.
But my son and I continue to push
all the boundaries of blissful intimacy
seeking out remote waterfalls,
mountain streams, Burning
Man’s grand Ecstasy tents.
For the moment hung up on pit
stops of an orthopedic rehab nature,
I minimize altered states to focus
on reality of getting an old body
better able to hold sacred space.
In training to prepare for higher
ascents again, I contract leptospirosis
from my loyal dog but come out
stronger using FDA leptins to
suppress unwieldy appetite.
Acupuncture Needles Serve As Brain Solar Antennae
Lumbago Blues Haiku
Now I’m some half man
trying best one can to grasp
a non-addict life.
Sadhu Haiku
Last deep dive from waves
toward sea bed -- I’m drawn home to
our vast mother ship.
Recycle Me Christmas Holiday?
Each summer & winter, hither & yon block after block
I spy white plastic bags
you know the kind which emits toxic fumes when burning,
choking swimming animals, or around forever in landfills
with four hundred million spoiling the Atlantic alone for mammals
(porpoises etc.) to mistake as yummy sea nettles or jellyfish
before they just suffocate. Which isn’t the only obscenity getting us going:
inside every waste dump sits thick as a brick decrepit Yellow Pages
no one’s opened since my unlovable Harvard housemate Al Gore I played 8-ball with
invented the Internet --- we’d be better off if the directory still were a huggable tree.
Wash A Ton
A simple man, I chose my orthopod on the basis of his nice name which was Dearborn
and his unknown hospital which was Washington so I assumed everything in the OR would be sterile compared to world-renowned Stanford where I’ve worked plus close
to home but which is nicknamed The Farm suggesting perhaps that it’s barnyard dirty
thus lately has been all over the newspapers and TV for far too many unwashed residents
and students who seemed to just stand around in the various operating rooms which led
to the headline, Report: Stanford's infection rate worst among 7 Bay Area hospitals.*
Soon Stiff Said Somewhat Strangely
"I want all to know
that we'll always truly
be there for you our kids.
Which is what I hope
you'all'd feel about me
after this sick old cuss passes."
//
Gerard Sarnat has won the Poetry in the Arts First Place Award plus the Dorfman Prize and been nominated for Pushcarts. Gerry’s authored four collections: HOMELESS CHRONICLES (2010), Disputes (2012), 17s (2014) and Melting The Ice King (2016) which included work published in magazines and anthologies including Gargoyle, American Journal of Poetry (Margie), Main Street Rag, New Delta Review, OCHO,Brooklyn Review, Lowestoft, Tishman Review plus was featured in New Verse News, Edify, Poetica, Songs of Eretz, Avocet, LEVELER, tNY, StepAway, Bywords and Floor Plan. Deronda Review, San Francisco Magazine, Radius, Foliate Oak, Dark Run, Scarlet Leaf, Good Men Project, Anti-Heroin Chic, Winamop, Aois, Poetry Circle, Tipton Review, Creative Truth, Harbor Village, KYSO, Flagler Review, Rumblefish, Poets and War, and Ordinary Madness’ debut feature sets of new poems. Mount Analogue selected Sarnat’s sequence, KADDISH FOR THE COUNTRY, for distribution as a pamphlet in Seattle on Inauguration Day 2017 as well as the next morning as part of the Washington DC and nationwide Women’s Marches. In May “Amber Of Memory” was the single poem chosen for Gerry s 50th college reunion symposium on Bob Dylan; the Harvard Advocate accepted a second plus Oberlin, Brown, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, etc. in and outside the US accepted concurrent pieces. In August Failed Haiku presented his work first among over a hundred contributors. Later in 2017 Beautiful Loser’s main spread will be Sarnat’s poetry accompanied by an interview. For Huffington Post/other reviews, readings, publications, interviews; visit GerardSarnat.com. Harvard/Stanford educated, Gerry’s worked in jails, built/staffed clinics for the marginalized, been a CEO of healthcare organizations and Stanford Medical School professor. Married since 1969, he has three children, four grandkids.
Gerard Sarnat also has a symbol--Ed.:
