Ponderable polemics, poetic

WordPress site of poet Mark Lucker

poetry

  • The Poet Takes His Meds

    I recently had a ‘heart procedure’doctor clearing out nearly blocked arteryeliminated offending clog with a new stentNow I take medication to keep my blood thinnerflowing more freely The med’s name – clopidogrel – amuses me greatly asI have composed plenty of doggerel inmy many years ofwaxing poeticBut knowing nothing of pharmaceutical naming conventions Ihave to Read more

  • Beings, being

    I was once hanging out with an eclectic group one of whom casually asked if any of us believed in ghostsbefore I could answeranother said “Not ghosts, but angels”bringing awkwardnessblank looks all around While I couldn’t see myself I like to think I was more contemplativethough it got me pondering whysomeone would staunchlybelieve in one Read more

  • Ghosts of Niemöller

    First they came for the immigrantsAnd I did not speak out Because I was not an immigrantMy ancestors were, but that was differentThen they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Even though America is kind of socialistBut real socialists are evil – so they sayThen they came for the trade unionists Read more

  • Mapped. Out.

    Our path to perdition startedat not eating French frieswound through calling gasoline ‘freedom molecules’imagined ‘wars’ on Christmas, culture veering torepeatedly shooting upcases of light beer light-on-logic moves, each For the past few generations Americans have done more of their critical reading in supermarket checkout lines than libraries Eliminating our nation’seducation department only completes the process Read more

  • January, won

    The first day of a new yearcliché is the currency we traffic innew pages are turnedexpectations for whateverlies aheadexceedingly optimistic self-talk, public proclamationspersonal plans for change, regenerationrenewal carries vagueexpiration date mentally stamped at factorywarning us with certaintylike a gallon of milk ‘hopes will curdle if not used by…’Those with calendars still hanging from walls,refrigeratorsripping last Read more

  • Red Hook, Brooklyn. 07/27/24

    Sitting on the fringe of large patio contemplating retaining wall perch, New York Bay lapping gently every table, chair, square foot occupied genial reverie of twenty, thirty-somethings enjoying summer Saturday night companion and I well beyond the demographic   Our backs to Staten Island, I squint my mind’s eye at ancient brick-warehouse-turned-hip-brewery easily imagining much Read more

  • 07/24/2024

    I cried to my grandparents todaya first for memy father’s parents, who diedbefore I was born never heard their voicesfelt their touch never knew where they wereeven buried until recently I cried to my grandparents todaythey never had a shoulderthey could offerneither ever rocked meto sleep, or just for comfortnever dried one of my tearsuntil Read more

  • Oops.

    “I like to live my life the way I type – fast, and with a lot of mistakes.” – Anonymous Mistakes have always been madecorrections ever problematic the ancients inscribing in clayused wet thumb to smooth outill-placed < \ x = # or ^when caught before the sun bakederrors into eternity rune carvers had less Read more

  • Self portrait

    The extremes of who, what I am whence I hail internally DNA, culturally, spiritually nature/nurture all fun to puzzle-piece together free form, no squared-off edges of big-picture guidance What my forebearers were who they were what they did what was done to them is historically recorded, reported yet remains very personally unresolved My now obsessive, Read more

  • Sampling

    Sitting at a brewery rural, northern Minnesota tasting a variety of beers, ales small flights of five A couple – mid-twenties sits across from us they too, are sampling each other – first timers comparing dating app peccadillos head-scratching mismatches awkward exchanges preferences for beer types, each other quickly give way to comfortable laughter Another Read more