The Nuclear Family

Much that might be said is unexpressed.
Somehow, we manage to live with this.
Father sits in his chair with a newspaper.
Mother keeps scouring the same stain.

Somehow, we manage to live with this,
Avoiding all uncomfortable thoughts.
Mother keeps scouring the same stain.
The blinds are drawn to keep the neighbors out.

Avoiding all uncomfortable thoughts
we keep our secrets from ourselves.
The blinds are drawn to keep out the neighbors
and we proceed as if this was all right.

We keep our secrets from ourselves.
Our thoughts turn on us in revenge,
but we proceed as if this was all right.
That is the beginning of our end.

Our thoughts turn on us in revenge.
One morning mother finds she cannot walk.
That is the beginning of our end.
Father quits his job and stays about the house.

One morning mother finds she cannot walk.
It is the revenge of hidden thoughts.
Father quits his job and stays about the house.
It is the same with him; it is his fault.

The revenge of hidden thoughts has its way.
The son with promise never moves away.
It is the same with him; it is his fault.
Much that might be said is unexpressed.

**

Dreams Come To Play

Dreams come to play and come alone;
listen to their tambourines and drums.
They face you with a face they dreamt up.
Attend to the harlequin’s woe;
it issues from yourself, you know.

When I was young,
the streets were filled with jugglers
and troubadours who were in love.
Everything was spinning like a gyroscope;
it took concentration to keep it all
from flying off.

One day the sun went down
and never came up.
We waited in vain.
We lit cigarettes. Nothing helped.
Many people stayed home.
Most gave up.
Eventually, we grew accustomed
to the dark. We called it day,
though it was not like before.
And green had left the undergrowth for good.

---

 

Jack Galmitz was born in 1951 in New York City. He holds a Ph.D from the University of Buffalo in modern American Literature. His work has appeared in print and digital poetry venues. He was a long-time contributor to Otoliths and Ginyu, a Japanese haiku magazine published by Ban’ya Natsuishi. His work has appeared in Alien Buddha Press, Synchronized Chaos, and many others. He is married and lives with his wife in New York.

 

 .