Art by Kate Shaw
The joke you had to explain.
The vision that moved no one.
The pedantic tone.
The embarrassing confession
abandoned halfway. When across freshened skies
jetpacks jockey and curtsey,
and solar-powered dirigibles
preside like funny gods, you’re not invited.
It’s possible in your room
with effort to detach yourself
progressively from time
until you see it whole
for the troll it is; and at
the apogee of spirit
forgive the stucco and silence
of that room, and sleep. There’s a party.
Composites talk wittily and
with power you half-hear
though contributing fully.
Hors-d’oeuvres, urgent gossip, vivid
flickering children; you’re involved.
And the ghost whose eager sheets
and candlelight you find
at midnight seems almost
an individual.
Fred Pollack is the author of two book-length narrative poems, THE ADVENTURE and HAPPINESS (Story Line Press), and two collections, A POVERTY OF WORDS (Prolific Press, 2015) and LANDSCAPE WITH MUTANT (Smokestack Books, UK, 2018). Many other poems in print and online journals. Lives in Washington, DC.