"Secret" "Frankenpo" and "An Ode to Nostalgia" by Fudi Fickenscher (any)

The Secret

fudi fickenscher

—After “The Secret” by Denise Levertov

Two girls discover 

The secret of life

In a sudden stroke of

Paint.

The catch on a collar,

The curve of a pearl,

The bowing of a brim

Tells a secret.

I lean forward 

To whisper in their

Ears the secret,

But the girls

Have already turned away.

They secret each other’s ears,

Gossamer pink, against

Silken red lips.

No, they tell their own secrets.

I am a fool. I

lean in, to

Listen.

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LOOK, REAL COOL GIRLS STRIKE STRAIGHT —Frankenpo after “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks, “Horse Chestnut” by Gary Miranda, and “Girls Overhead Assembling A Puzzle” by Mary Szybist

I FELL—HE FELL

POOL PLAYERS

I LOVED HER

EXACTLY

HE FELL

THIS BLUE, NOT THE SAME (AS THE BLUE OVER THERE)

I NEED HER, A LITTLE PIECE

REAL COOL

HER NECK THAT PIECE OF WATER

MOUTH BLUE

MY HEAD

STRIKE STRAIGHT

SKULL CHIPPED

BOTTOM OF A POOL

BIKINI THIN SIN;

SIXTEEN STITCHES

COOL POOL FOOL

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An Ode to Nostalgia

fudi fickenscher

Lover to the past but

Never the present

Clasping the cold body

Of a mug full of tea

Once wonderfully warm

Gold rings

The damask bedspread in corded borders

Now wrinkled and threadbare

Restless as rain patters on the roof

A soft lullaby, not the pounding

Of your heart as you wonder

If the patch on the roof will hold

Oh nostalgia

As if, if only

This portrait weathered and old

Could rejoin its youthful self

Smiling beneath yellowed varnish

An ode to the present wringing its hands

Waiting for the past