2 poems by Ricky Garni

Bill Withers

Part of me wishes I lived when whale blubber was used

for almost everything but part of me is also glad that

I missed this time entirely. I think that I would have

preferred to live in a time when you could ride alongside

a whale in the ocean because they saw you as a friend

and were not concerned that you might want them simply

for their blubber.

Escape

Dylan once said that a nail is dead.

It simply is not true! Anyone who has

accidentally hammered a nail into

a finger or a heart knows that it is

simply not true. The nail is alive and

full of verve and spirit and color as

much as any bird you might find in

Shakespeare that has been nailed

into your heart. Now if you did it

with intent – things would be different –

a nail can be as dead as a doornail. Only

then is Dylan a finer man than Shakespeare.

And only then do you care to not read either.

You would rather be in a boat, firmed by nails,

in an ocean that never existed until you put a boat

in it.

___________________

Ricky Garni grew up in Miami and Maine. He works as a graphic designer by day and writes music by night. His latest work, A CONCERNED PARTY MEETS A PERSON OF INTEREST, was released in the Spring of 2019.