Frederick Pollack
A prewar Village balcony, one
square yard around a drain,
contains pale grass in a green
plastic bed, vines exploring
downward from a hanging pot, a
bird feeder, birds and the occasional
hip squirrel. (One squirrel?)
On a nail, the skull
of some stub-snouted mammal, all
eye-sockets. (This element
may sound excessive but is small.)
Wind chimes would send
the wrong message –
instead a small brass gong
has a fork, hung cleverly
from a twisted wire to strike it
in wind. When there’s rain as well
as wind, the sound is especially
meaningful, though unheard
by the neighbors or neighbor
(name downstairs beside buzzer),
who must never, ever be disturbed.
Frederick Pollack is author of two book-length narrative poems, THE ADVENTURE and HAPPINESS, both Story Line Press; the former to be reissued by Red Hen Press. Two collections of shorter poems, A POVERTY OF WORDS, (Prolific Press, 2015) and LANDSCAPE WITH MUTANT (Smokestack Books, UK, 2018). Pollack has appeared in Salmagundi, Poetry Salzburg Review, The Fish Anthology (Ireland), Magma (UK), Bateau, Fulcrum, Chiron Review, Chicago Quarterly Review, etc. Online, poems have appeared in Big Bridge, Hamilton Stone Review, BlazeVox, The New Hampshire Review, Mudlark, Rat’s Ass Review, Faircloth Review, Triggerfish, etc