Two Poems

Put That in Your Pipe, Norman!

What ever happened to the Saturday
Evening Post, the one that Mrs. Johnson
Used to roll up, tight as a tourniquet,
To shut off the hot blood surging through
Our adolescent veins? The one she used,
With equanimity, to swat each of us, the
Guilty and the innocent, besider our newly
Mohawked heads as we buzzed, like flies

Around a carcass, in the room where she
Taught Freshman English, or tried to teach,
Receiving little for her pains. What a
Scene! What a cover this would have made!
Picture Mrs. Johnson’s POST, finally
Unfurled, revealing yet one more glimpse
Into our never-so-Rockwellian world.
 
 
 
The Miraculous Feeding
– For Sue De Kelver

That morning, in Sunday School, the
Teacher tells us the story of the
Miraculous feeding. Now on Sunday
Night, my five-year-old-self sits
With his father at the kitchen table
Watching him, just like Jesus, tear

Slices of Wonder Bread into four
Thousand bits which he drops into our
Bowls and to which he will add sugar
And milk, and some cinnamon for me,
Transforming it all into our favorite
Bedtime treat. Now, that’s a miracle!