#19
      The "Do You Have Lots of Faults Too?" Issue

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ZVI A. SESLING

Back Closet

The back closet is where the unneeded is stuffed:
unused coal, a broken Coke bottle, bent baseball cards
unchewed chewing gum, a bag of old pans and wooden
spoons, a bust of Chopin, and old Monopoly board

these things once meant something but only the heavens
remember what it was since they have been in that closet
for close to three years and were never looked at again
though they have not been forgotten

Perhaps another search would reveal more past treasures:
old Greek coins, a backgammon set, casino chips, pictures
of old friends, books by Kerouac and Rand, I Like Ike campaign
buttons and an unbroken wishbone saved, not tossed

Like lives discarded in war, love or boredom the closet fills
with memories to hunt and like the closet they might never
be seen again and unlike the closet we will not be able to open
a door and sift through the piles.

Cold Dark Night

It was a cold dark night
the homeless man stood
on the grate
heat from the subway
below was like a god
a couple with red noses
and wrapped around each
other walked by never seeing
him in his shiver
the policeman in his cruiser
drove by looking only for crime
even the moon was draped with
a haloed robe
two men hobbled out of a bar
looking for their car
the lonely, the drunk, the lovers
own the clear night sky
where even the stars are frozen

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