In today’s episode we bring you the poem “That Girl with Pearl Earring, after Vermeer “ by U.P. Poet Laureate Martin Achatz. Contact Martin at [email protected] to find out about his upcoming virtual poetry workshops. Thursday July 2nd 7 PM Poetry Workshop: In celebration of World UFO Day on July 2, join Marty Achatz for an evening of all things cosmic and alien. A night of writing that engages the mysteries of the universe, science fictional and science factional. Stretch to your outer limits and have a close encounter of the poetry kind.
We also have poetry about current events and more by ME Kilpatrick. ME Kilpatrick is a poet and Quaker minister of the Birmingham (AL) Friends Meeting and a member of the Marquette Poets Circle.
That Girl with Pearl Earring, after Vermeer
by: Martin Achatz
That girl, with that piece of sea in her lobe, went out my front door just a few minutes ago with that boy she's been with these last three years. And that girl was wearing that lapis lazuli headband, gave that boy that look, the one Vermeer captured in that painting. That look, so unreadable, that could say, "Yes, I love you, and will let you touch me later," or, "You have no idea who I am, and you never will." That boy will do anything for that look as he carries the fishing poles, tackle box out the door behind her, and that girl laughs that laugh and calls to him, says, "Don't forget that bug spray." And that boy will look at that girl and, even though he has never heard of or seen that painting, he will understand it like no one else ever has. He will imagine spraying her with the scent of evergreen from that can, to keep the mosquitoes from eating her alive. To keep every last morsel of that girl's flesh for himself.
The Barb-Wrangled Scammer
O say can you see,
by the Don’s COVID blight,
What so loudly he hailed
at his twilight’s last breathing,
Whose broad snipes and spite barbs
through the perilous fight,
O'er the crash carts we watched,
were so spinelessly screaming?
And the President’s glare,
his bombs bursting on air,
Gave proof through the night
that the flag was not there;
O say does that barb-wrangled scammer yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
ME Kilpatrick
Marquette, Michigan
May 15, 2020
Americuss the Ugliness
O ugliness for spacious lies,
For amber knave of brain,
For purple tragic travesties
Above the rooted vain!
Americuss! Americuss!
Don hid his face from thee
And drown thy good with other hoods
From pee to pining pee!
O ugliness for wicked feet,
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for the Don beat
Across the filthiness!
Americuss! Americuss!
Don mend thine every law,
Confirm thy hole in self-console,
Thy liberty in flaw!
O ugliness for Nero proved
In instigating strife,
Who blessed himself as country died
And Money more than life!
Americuss! Americuss!
May Don thy gold define,
Till all success be Donald-dressed,
And every grain designed!
O ugliness for fascists dream
That seeds beyond the years
Thine black disaster cities scream
Condemned with human tears!
Americuss! Americuss!
Don hid his face from thee
And drown thy good with other hoods
From pee to pining pee!
ME Kilpatrick
Marquette, Michigan
May 16, 2020
In Jesus Name
Jesus prays to the Father,
not worried but bothered.
In anguish he asks,
“Let me not do this task.”
But deep down in his heart,
he knows evil is dark.
He wants all to see the Light,
So, he prays, “I’ll do what’s right.”
The Father hears his prayer,
and gives him strength in the lair.
Liars and murderers assault his truth,
but he remains love-strong like Ruth.
So, when I pray in Jesus name,
Like him I’ll say the same:
“Not my will but thine!”,
and love all the time.
ME Kilpatrick
Marquette, Michigan
May 21, 2020
