Muggier than it’s been in years. This late
date I ought to’ve gotten over
myself coming & going.
Up, about & around, the yinyangs take
their turns & proficiently, until which
one or the other bolts & runs?
Less than meets the eye (gallery of freeze-dried
art, garden of earthling love) meets the prepared mind.
Meanwhile the meeting of all two true
agendas does drag on.
A mentor dreams me up. You might arrive at a degree
of dignity, s/he suggests. You might
consult, might manage.
I dribble wise pearls before my following: dear
disciples, you’ll be the wheels
spinning wheels now. I’ll be bloviatrix to the stars.
Little to miss: no squiggly linoleum, no more the glad
rags of empire—although sometimes plucking along
in the dryer lint does seem good clean fun.
Martha Zweig’s four full-length poetry collections include GET LOST; MONKEY LIGHTNING, WHAT KIND and VINEGAR BONE; a current manuscript is circulating. Her chapbooks are POWERS and A SKIRMISH OF HARKS (e-book). Zweig’s poems appear widely; her recognitions include Hopwood Awards, a Whiting Award, Pushcart and Best-of-the-Net nominations, plus a Warren Wilson MFA. She lives in Vermont where she worked ten years as an advocate for seniors, following another ten years handling garments in a pajama factory where she served a term as ILGWU shop chair.