LOW DOWN HAIKU BITTERSUITE [6] By Gerard Sarnat

LOW DOWN HAIKU BITTERSUITE [6]

i. Microbiophobia  [2]
 
During pre-COVID,
precocious an asset; now
pre-cautious preferred.
 
Masked, we insisted
all kids still stalked us got sealed
in small Ziplock bags.
 
ii. Boogie Street [4]
 
O Crown of Light, O Darkened One,
I never thought we’d meet.
You kiss my lips, and then it’s done:
-- Leonard Cohen
 
Our boulevard now
a network of fortresses,*
mostly over-schooled
 
elitists maintain
chow Valhallas: fishmongers
leave best catch at door
 
while on your side of
freeway food deserts still rule.
Flashlights under chin
 
poor people’s distress
COVID accelerated --
zombie apocalypse?
 
* Yuval Harari phrase
 
iii. Phoenix [2]
 
De facto divorce
mostly invisible ‘til
COVID confinement
 
can new mutual
reliance rekindle flames
of what once was ours?
 
iv. Thorn
 
Rose so beautiful,
sweet -- you must beware toxic
but exotic spikes.
 
v. JewBu’s Sacred Learning Curve [3]
 
Boychick’s voyage first launched,
my point of publication
her Buddhist journal
 
girl assured me, I
care more about soft soulful
hearts than your hard head’s
 
capability,
connections, collateral,
career carryings-on.
 
vi. Muse [2]
 
Grocery shopping
out to lunch since sequestered,
plus not too much else

happening here, roles
bleed into same house and seat
-- imagination?

Gerard Sarnat MD’s won San Francisco Poetry’s 2020 Contest, Poetry in Arts First Place Award/Dorfman Prizes; nominated for handfuls of recent Pushcarts/Best of Net Awards; authored HOMELESS CHRONICLES (2010), Disputes, 17s, Melting Ice King (2016).  He’s widely published including by academic-related journals Stanford, Oberlin, Wesleyan, Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Pomona, Brown, Penn, Dartmouth, Columbia, University Chicago; Ulster, Gargoyle, Main Street Rag, Northampton Review, American Journal Poetry, Vonnegut Journal, 2020 International Human Rights Art Festival, Poetry Quarterly, New Delta Review, Buddhist Review, Brooklyn Review, LA Review, San Francisco Magazine, New York Times. Mount Analogue selected KADDISH for distribution nationwide Inauguration Day.