one bridal shower is another citizen's wake

one bridal shower is another citizen's wake

 

 

the cynic sits suffocating

on his own greed for satire

his poetry reeks of sardonic conjecture

his ruptured heart bleeds sarcasm

through sheets of unaccustomed irony

 

the wrinkles in his brow

become darker,

as early morning anchors

pull down his imagined shades

coverage of historic helots celebrating

vows

 

as he vows to find his next meal

his own engagement ring

a rubber band mind

trying to remember his last meal

 

the drink by his side

the coaster an old napkin

with some bleak poems smudging it

like sauce stains 

from that Italian Meal he only dreamed of

 

they wed,

and he seeks his next bed

in some discarded box

that probably once held a real bed

in which or on which

some vows were consummated

 

while he was begging for a couple dollars

to fill his stomach with more than a heart's emptiness

 

he stares into the store window

looking at 55 inches of tv he will never be able to afford

 

as the procession drifts down some British road

no panhandlers in sight.

 

and it's all High-Definition.

 

 

erin-cilberto

5/20/18 

Reviews

[barleygirl]

Hard to decide the most disgusting contrast . . . (1) royal wedding in a split screen with nearby homeless folks . . . or (2) Kushner contingency dedicating Jerusalem embassy to all-white audience in a split screen with the bombing of hopeless Palestinian youth in their open-air prison. Damn all this high-def split-screen coverage anyhow! Your poem delivers the perfect punch (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, Margie...yes it is all a tragedy...this new world is so messed up---and makes so little sense.
j.

[redzone]

pomp and circumstance, glitter and gold blinding us to real world realities that literally billions of us face... cynicism will reign until people see through the gold and see the suffering of human beings and act to do something real to end it.... when this occurs, the whole world will live High-Definition.... how did that saying go: the revolution will not be televised, it will be LIVE!!

love your poetry Jacob...

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your very kind review, Curt.
j.

[Chris Shaw]

The world over that's how it is, the haves and the have nots. It has always been that way, and though some would believe the gap is reducing, I'm not always that sure. Powerful write Jacob.

Chris

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your words, Chris.
j.

[drew garner]

I don't know how you will take this, but this piece reminds me of Jonathan Ashbery. Not sure of your influences and I haven't read all your work so I can't say much about your overall aesthetic. But I love how I feel like I have learned something without being able to name it. But that for me is the beauty of poetry it occupies a place that is not about opinion but instead speaks the ambiguous truth. That when confronted with it you call it beautiful or change. The piece I am sharing next is a poem by my idol Jim Dodge that I think says what I am trying to say better.

The Stone

Of two great masters,
They say one died serenely,
A little smile on his face;
The other screaming his head off,
Terrified of death.
There are no conclusions to reach.
The stone falls
Till it hits the earth.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i really like this piece by Jim Dodge...thank you for sharing..and the last three lines speak such truths...i like Jon Ashbery...and was influenced greatly by the Beats..Ferlinghetti, Ginsberg, Plath, Sexton, Creeley, and many others i read in the early seventies in my modern American poetry class at SIU...

David Ignatow another...many.
thank you for your kind review, drew.
j.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i am pretty sure i had read something by Jim Dodge before...but I just ordered Rain on the River from amazon...want to read more of him...thank you for that ---i will have another wonderful poet's work on my shelf.
j.

[marilyn 1225]

wow powerful the homeless were shooed away from main points of the procession
this is so well written brilliant that i can not even say much more...
life is the pits at times for many... in many ways

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind words, marilyn.
j.