Still in Plague Time
It is summer still blue sky
trees heavy with foliage
loud birds in the shrubbery
hiding from hawks
neglected towers crumbling
and the plagues of hatred
and addiction and despair
and the attack of the invisible
against a temple here or there
white stone gone dead
The collapse of a far-off government
The daily suicides of veterans
What am I to make of all this beauty
and all this sorrow and fear
please just act like normal
like everything will be okay
please trust the system
say the system managers
and then a woman nameless
stands up shouting in pain
watch out for the angels
they despise you
there they go flying over you
heading for the coast
coughing garbage
into the atmosphere
above you
I Can’t Stop
A friend asks me if I can compose a two-word poem.
I say: Why not.
God asks me if I can forgive him.
I say: Sure.
Time asks me if I can feel it like a breeze sometimes at my back
Sometimes like an obstacle sometimes like a knee on my throat
While the seconds and minutes tick devotedly by.
I say: Do you want me to reassure you? Okay, you rule.
Love asks me if I can still feel love
I say: less than I once did
But it is the best feeling in the world the gold standard
Hope asks me if I still believe
I say: I ‘m sorry I can’t stop believing
Alicia Ostriker’s most recent collection of poetry is The Volcano and After: Selected and New Poems 2002-2021. Ostriker has twice received a National Jewish Book Award for her poetry. As a critic, she is author of For the Love of God: The Bible as an Open Book.
Photo Credit: Amy Meier