December 10, 2017

Three Poems by Mark Danowsky: "First Day of Fall," "Wrongheaded," and "This Is the Part of the Walk I Like Best"

Mark Danowsky’s poetry has appeared in About Place, Cordite, Gargoyle, Grey Sparrow, Right Hand Pointing, Shot Glass Journal, Subprimal, and elsewhere. He is originally from Philadelphia, but now lives in West Virginia. He is Managing Editor for the Schuylkill Valley Journal and Founder of the poetry coaching and editing service VRS CRFT.


Pixabay


First Day of Fall

The beagle up the road moans
drones like a fire engine
with a drained battery

Birds are quiet and I smile
maybe they’re hungover, too

Light glints pale green off
still flush locusts
outside my basement office window

I’m not all that worried yet
hoping I can focus on work



Wrongheaded

from a mountainside looking out
on mountainside, ill-seeming forms

gather at witching hour
through glass, twine wreath

jaundiced lights diffuse
what amounts to a landscape



This is the part of the walk I like best

Passing new construction
generic frames with faux
artisanal concrete parking spaces
I imagine prospective buyers—

Would they know on purchase
they’d close all those blinds
and never draw them, let alone crack
natural light into the so-called living room?
Then I’m forced to step aside
as a luxury SUV slowly backs
out of a two-car garage
the driver slowing to check me out
That’s right, I think, get a good look at
me walking my dog

Don’t think I immediately want to
burn down their house or anything—
no, no, no, I just like to imagine
how they spend their time
as someone aiming to climb
shadows the newly hired CFO
only to realize their day is nothing to emulate
then develops a hobby
say painting windows with closed blinds
that face squat brick row homes
or getting a dog


Mark Danowsky




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