December of 2009

Rita Stein
four poems





Dogsense


I'm just so tired of all the advice that people have been

Throwing round these days and days

People speak and a dog responds and that dog is the

One who might be making sense

The computer puts capitals in and makes my language

More formal than is my desire; it makes me more aware

That a dog can make more sense and be more simpatico


Can I feebly end this lament with a song that barks as well?





The Bridge


The first thing to notice is the brick

that is not the color we normally

assign to a brick.


The next thing to notice is the fountain

in which a tree has been planted.

The brick is next to the fountain

but far from the tree.


I am near the bridge, listening

too hard and looking too long.

I am in outline, not (even).


There really doesn’t have to be

irony and distance when we are looking


and bricks really can be the color

of bricks, (especially).


Everyone takes up with someone.

Think de Kooning and politicians.

Make your escape bigger (than)


an irrevocable change from table into orange.





Cyclone


The temperate weather

mid November

fools rush forward in glee

I bothered everyone

sober, unbelievably so


Soon a savage mania

turns into an absorbing

shopping spree for moisturizer-

all kinds, oil free, unscented, SPF


This, and sunglasses, tight jeans,

the Williamsburg Bridge

my romance brilliantly flourishing





M Train


My eyes observing

from the train

First a light fog

then a small lifting

for the sun

The gentleman who

catches my eye

sometimes

has big headphones

on today

I like that

weird gear

He looks like

a Martian

with a

doughnut head

The train

is always

held

at Myrtle

It makes

me sad

to know

that someday I

won’t be

on this

train

This is the

best

commute

I

ever had



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Rita Stein originally hails from Baltimore, Md. She currently lives in New York and is a middle school librarian in Bushwick. She has had some poems published in Stained Sheets, Blue Collar Review, Octopus Dreams and September Eleven: Maryland Voices-Reaction, Reflection, Resilience. Rita remains an active MFA resister in these troubled times.