Miser Magazine VIII

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Bitter

Freezing today,

21, 22, blowing snow

when the fire alarm went off.

We all evacuated, many

without coats and hats,

some in shirtsleeves.

We stood along Middle Ave.

waiting.  One girl showed us

her frozen hair, while others

compared the shades of blue

their hands had turned.

Some bounced.  Others

held each other close

out of necessity.

There are all sorts of students

at this school, but nothing

brings people together

like the collective outrage

over a bitter day, and the

bitter response 

to a malfunctioning

fire suppression system.

This Christmas We Will Discuss Politics and Religion.

Embracing the season's sense of charity,

overwhelmed by the subtle artistic quality

of evening snow on Christmas lights,

and the beautiful economic politics

of a robed man from Argentina,

I took a sip of coffee and quietly considered

a return to the church of my childhood

before deciding simply to remain a leftist.

Chapter 4: Sugar Maple

Looking out

over the yard

one last time,

a sugar maple has gone red,

and with some desperation

holds every leaf up to sunset

illuminated.

Tonight the frost returns,

tomorrow a windstorm,

maybe some snow.

We're all on borrowed time.

The moment has come

to do something

beautiful.

Chapter 3: Love in a Digital Season

I watched you

watch your phone,

swipe your finger

delicately

on its screen

as you sat there

in autumn sun.

We had just crossed

4th Street bridge

into the heights.

Clouds passed, then

the sun returned.

You smiled.

I did too.

Chapter 2: Reality

Out the window

I heard a baby cry

3 floors down.

At first, I thought

it was 2 stray cats

clawing each other

which would have been

less unsettling.  As it was,

the boy's father held him close

as he screamed at the

injustice of a bitter wind or

some other sad reality.

Chapter 1: Socialism

She told me that she knew a guy once

who lived in an apartment overlooking

the south side, between branches

of Black River.  "The view of filthy

sunsets and poor kids walking to school

drove him to socialism."  She said it

as if a great evil had befallen him,

like alcoholism or madness. In her mind,

his compassion for the poor

was something of a tragedy.