from “Cassandra in the Library"
(Spoken by Cassandra, who in Greek myth had the gift
of prophecy, but no one would believe her)
. . . What can an office offer but a cursed
routine an inane trivial bore?
A water cooler doesn’t slake the thirst
of blood that rages for a taste of war:
a horde of pale perverted men lead lives
fired by bursting flares and leaders’ lies
Action releases thought confines
we will burst into blood again I can read the signs
The cauldron seethes boiling black white
yellow red and brown in a poisoned brew
swallowed by countries spoiling for a fight
The last great sword tilts like a rotten tooth
so write down this write it in blood
to guide the creatures crawling from the mud:
You who inherit the earth after we drown
learn to walk on water or turn around
—by Peter Meinke (from Lucky Bones, U. of Pittsburgh Press 2014)
Tasting Like Gravity, a new book of poems by Peter Meinke, illustrated by Jeanne Meinke, has just been published by the University of Tampa Press in hardback and paperback. Several of these poems have appeared first in the "Poet's Notebook" columns of Creative Loafing. Jeanne and Peter will appear at St. Pete's Festival of Reading at the USFSP campus, USF Davis 130, at 2:15-3:00 pm. on Saturday, November 17th.
This article appears in Nov 1-8, 2018.
