Five Poems (hovering between the absurd and the existential): Scarifying Poetry

A disheartened poet stumbling downward

met a man who looked like a poem

in a hotel bar in a city that reminded her

of forgetfulness.

I am here to give a poetry reading

and I’m terrified, she confessed

building a strange momentum

not for the reading

but for the remembering

of what she had written about

like looking at old newspaper headlines

of particularly sad events.

He begged her not to write a poem about his death

as if he could foresee both his death

and her inability to deal with death.

May I write a poem about your scars?

she asked more deferentially than

she once asked of a past teacher she respected

for her gentleness and disfigurement

and the man looked at his scars

first one, then the other,

and said, I’d almost forgotten about these

in my imaginings of new markings

this one is like a swirl of abandonment

and this one more like footprints of despair.

She stood up from the bar

her heart more than a little broken

and she could see him

entering her next poem

of abnegation and scarring.

J.J. Steinfeld

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Canadian poet/fiction writer/playwright J. J. Steinfeld lives on Prince Edward Island, where he is patiently waiting for Godot’s arrival and a phone call from Kafka. While waiting, he has published 25 books, including An Unauthorized Biography of Being (Stories), Absurdity, Woe Is Me, Glory Be (Poetry), A Visit to the Kafka Café (Poetry), Gregor Samsa Was Never in The Beatles (Stories), Morning Bafflement and Timeless Puzzlement (Poetry), Somewhat Absurd, Somehow Existential (Poetry), Acting on the Island (Stories), and As You Continue to Wait (Poetry).