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Category: My poems

POEM: His Heart

Published 21 February 2024 by Fievel

His Heart

He called them his heart,
not because he no longer had one,
but because she added to its capacity,
made it more expansive,
allowed him to love … well, more.

He called her his heart,
because they loved him, and that truth,
that essential knowledge,
was a solid place to stand
in a world that was constantly shifting.

He called them his heart,
because she reminded him it was there,
that it could be opened to the elements
without the fear that always followed.
She threw open the shade, let in the sun.

He called her his heart,
because they gave him the moss
and the lichens and the bees,
reminded him why the music mattered,
and sent him to sleep with a smile.

/ / /

21 February 2024
Charlottesville VA

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POEM: The Ocean

Published 6 January 2024 by Fievel

The Ocean

We’re both listening to
Richard Hawley.

Not together, but
together anyway.

When “The Ocean”
comes on I imagine…

it doesn’t matter.
But I’m certainly

picturing it as the violins
dance in the background.

There’s no key
for this painting.

We just have to guess
at the colors,

try to keep them from
spilling off the canvas.

“You’ll lead me down
to the ocean.”

Guitar solo.
Here comes a wave.

/ / /

5 January 2024
Charlottesville VA

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POEM: The Many Worlds Hypothesis & Song To A Seagull

Published 4 January 2024 by Fievel

The Many Worlds Hypothesis & Song To A Seagull

Joni Mitchell sang into
an open piano

when she recorded
her first album

because David Crosby
thought it would

enhance her voice —
and it did,

but it also magnified
the other sounds in the room

so they were forced to
strip away the high frequencies,

leaving a flatter beauty,
and this is why

I am careful when I
look at you

because the universe
has limits.

/ / /

3 January 2024
Charlottesville VA

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POEM: Completeness

Published 31 December 2023 by Fievel

Completeness

squirrel on the lawn
crow on the wire

(there’s a little piece
of my soul in you)

crow on the wire
squirrel on the lawn

(and a piece
of yours in me)

/ / /

31 December 2023
Charlottesville VA

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POEM: I Wrote This For You

Published 26 December 2023 by Fievel

I Wrote This For You

I wrote this for you
on the back of a napkin
passed over the bar
with a glass of soda.

I wrote this for you
on an app on my phone,
lying on the couch
during a long lunch break.

I wrote this for you but
it doesn’t matter because
you’ll never know you’re
the “you” in question.

I wrote this for you
to send it to the universe;
like background radiation
for a world in need of love.

/ / /

26 December 2023
Charlottesville VA

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haiku: 21 December 2023

Published 22 December 2023 by Fievel

her back hurts
from lying on the ground
shred of clothing on the breeze

/ / /

21 December 2023
Charlottesville VA

For Bisan

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POEM: Meanwhile

Published 7 December 2023 by Fievel

Meanwhile

“our colleagues are being killed
at the bedside of our patients”

meanwhile:

a toddler cannot stop shaking
as an aid worker
or maybe just a random civilian
gently strokes the side of her face

meanwhile:

an IDF soldier holds a machine gun
above a line of naked men
their hands tied behind their backs
their clothes in a pile in the street

meanwhile:

his head drooping, beard filled with ash,
the man in the PRESS vest wonders
how much longer he can possibly continue

meanwhile:

a car pulls over to the side of the road
two women in hijab hand a tray of
blueberry muffins out the window
to a lone protester
they wave and drive on

/ / /

7 December 2023
Charlottesville VA

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POEM: Virginia/Gaza

Published 3 December 2023 by Fievel

Virginia/Gaza

We move boxes and couches, beds and lamps.

We pause to eat pizza and drink lemonade.

The kids help or play or get tired.

As we near the end there are gunshots
in the nearby woods. Hunters, or target practice.

The next-to-the-youngest one
asks if they’re fireworks.

We all say yes.

*

They move with nothing, to nowhere.

They keep their hands raised as they walk
but the soldiers shoot anyway.

There is gunfire everywhere.
There are explosions everywhere.

Flares set fire to the night
so the soldiers can keep shooting.

The next-to-the-youngest one
digs her baby brother out of the rubble.

/ / /

2 December 2023
Charlottesville VA

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