MARCHES ON

MARCHES ON

What a drag it is in here

Boredom marches on

Like the moans of the weary

I don’t remember anything

I did a week ago

And I don’t really want to

There’s too much rain

Not enough sun

Not enough fun

It’s such a drag in here

Boredom marches on

Like the moans of the weary

I’m weary and wary

Fed up with your

Work a day and your charms

Tired of your yeses

And your no’s

I moan like the weary.

-- Copyright © 2010 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.
Adapted from long-lost FROM A WAREHOUSE chapbook.
******************

FROM A WAREHOUSE

FROM A WAREHOUSE

I’m too sensitive to be locked

Into the every day drone

Of a coffee warehouse

I should be secluded

On a mountain

With a cabin and a pen

I’d write on the walls

Or not at all

But it’s fair to say

I’m too sensitive to be locked

Into the every day drone

Of a coffee warehouse

-- Copyright © 2010 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.
Adapted from long-lost FROM A WAREHOUSE chapbook.
******************

AFTER A FIRE

AFTER A FIRE

After the fire in the house
around the corner,
the family of the man
who died put up
a sign that read
“We Found All the Money.
Now. Stay Out”

The firemen reported
problems finding the man
in the midnight fire
and smoke that killed him.
The rooms were cluttered
and jammed with the things
of his life and there was no room
for shrouded firemen to move

For the longest time
the house stood scarred
and empty
and its fate uncertain,
as we walked slowly
my dog sniffing cinders
me looking for a ghost
and then
some new family came along
and spruced it
up until it looked
nothing like when
the old man lived and
died there
with his every possession

-- Copyright © 2010 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Photos and content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

From Retrieving Labrador Days - Dog tales in prose and verse
******************

COLUMBUS

COLUMBUS

What do you see from the shore?
You don't see the sea.
Not really, you only see the river.
There's no one I'd know to taste the water
to see if it's briny like the sea
or fresh like a river.
I'd rather die
than drown in this river.
What did Columbus or Henry Hudson see
when he first sailed this route?
This river like the ocean that spits out sailors.
This river where you can catch a slow boat to China.
Other people come to look at my rocks here at low tide.
They look at my sea.
What do they see?
Whatever it is,
it's not the same as me.

North of Harborside
a stranger talked to me
of the fowl in view
three first-downs into the river.
He was from Washington, D.C.,
and he told me what kind of birds they were
so far away from us.
He said they had the same
kind of birds in the Chesapeake Bay.
I haven't seen him since.
And it's just as well, I suppose.

The seagulls watch me for bits and crusts
I might smuggle to the sea.
Quickly you'll learn
that feeding a seagull
is like petting a dog.
Now the seagulls have learned
to eat the bread
and leave the rock salt.
These birds, their ancestors
knew this place
when there was nothing
but trees as far as the eye can see.
Did Henry Hudson ever notice
that no two clouds are the same?
Or try to put a hat on his shadow?

- By Anthony Buccino
From ONE MORNING IN JERSEY CITY

Copyright © 2010 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.
******************

QUIET ONE

Maybe it would surprise you that I was the quiet one.
No, really. I live most of the time inside my head.
I like it there. I can travel in time. I can be a hero.
I can relive humiliation, and then come back to today.

Maybe it would surprise you that as I write this I’m failing.
Well, my hand’s failing. My fingers are numb.
I’m holding the pen now with my pinky and thumb
and though I seem to write a lot
there is more than just pain in the words.
The pain in my hand is worse but these words,
these words push me to write them down,
don’t let them get away.
It wouldn’t surprise you that I don’t

-- Copyright © 2010 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.

NOAH IN THE BELLY OF THE WHALE

NOAH IN THE BELLY OF THE WHALE

Tell me quickly,
How long was Noah
in the belly of the whale?
BzTT! Time’s Up
Oh, man, you’re going to hate yourself
if you said, "Three days!"
Fact is, Noah wasn’t in the belly of the whale.
It was Jonah that ended up with the sushi
in the belly of the great fish.

A long time ago, God says to Jonah,
‘Jonah, I want you to go to Ninevah
and tell them to repent
or I’ll bring down a giant
whupping on their tail.’
So Jonah says to God,
‘Sure, God, I’m pretty busy
but I’ll try to work it into my schedule.’
Then Jonah got on a boat
that was sailing in the opposite direction
saying to himself,
why does God always pick me
to do his preaching,
I’m not going to Ninevah,
it smells and the people talk funny.

But while Jonah was on the ship,
a great storm came along
and if not for the courage of the tiny crew
the Minnow 10k-BC would be lost.
The Skipper says to his first mate,
Gilley, what did we do to God
that he sends this storm our way
to wreak havoc on our tiny ship?
Gilley says, maybe it has something
to do with our party with Ginger
and MaryAnn on that deserted island?
But the Skipper was a righteous man
and says, ‘Someone on this ship
has angered the Lord.

'We must draw straws to see who it was.’
So the crew hauls above board Jonah
who had been cowering from the storm
and took straws and shortened one
and then each drew a lot.
The little lot is what Jonah drew.
That’s when he realized the ship
was in the middle of the storm
because he went away from Ninevah.
That city was having a whooping good time
and didn’t know it was waiting for Jonah
to come along and tell it now is the time to repent.

So, the Skipper and Gilligan threw that millionaire
Jonah overboard and in no time at all the sea calmed
and they could finish their three hour tour.
Jonah, meanwhile tried to remember how to swim,
But God had other plans. A great fish swallowed Jonah,
and after three days of Rolaids, Tums and Mylanta,
the great fish spit out Jonah on the shore of Ninevah.

Smelling of rotten fish,
Jonah immediately went to the king
and told him the story
of what the Lord told him
and that the people of Ninevah
should repent and wear burlap bags
and ashes, so that God would spare
the great city from a big old whupping.
The king decreed that Jonah’s words
be heeded and the city was saved.
And Jonah says to himself,
from now on I’m going to do
what God tells me to do
the first time he tells me. Really.

-- Copyright © 2010 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.
******************

DA VINCI PAINTS MY HOUSE

da Vinci paints my house, 
the shutters are camouflage.
Fermi fixes my furnace, 
it doesn’t hum, it ticks.
Galileo is my personal trainer, 
he leaves stretch charts behind.
Newton trims my trees, 
leaves apple bushels by the back door.
Milton writes my insurance policy, 
suggests a heavenly rider.
Plato teaches 7th grade history, 
seats bad boys in the corner.
Marconi hooks up my router, 
slips me the secret password.
Edison installs my ground lights, 
draws the line at a timer.
Seurat papers my basement, 
you’d swear it’s Sunday in the park.
Gulliver books my Europe trip, 
suggests an island stay,
Tussaud waxes poetic, 
offers a cool, slick hand.
Beethovan tunes my piano, 
suggests I play by ear.
Naked Cowboy strums a tune, 
briefly draws women near.
Stephen King reads bedtimes stories,
the kids can’t sleep.

-- Copyright © 2009 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Photos and content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.
******************
First published: Up and Under: The QND Review" - 2009

RETURN TO DODGE

2008, Newton, N.J.

If I was a famous poet I would eat
in the famous poets tent and have food
for famous poets but instead I head
back to Mimmo’s over and over
for the minestrone, the chicken cutlets and
the Taylor ham, egg and cheese

And each time I go they ask my name
to write it on the ticket
and when Rose, the owner’s wife,
brings it over, she says, “you again?”
She’s genuinely nice like the nice you find
in people who are not in the city.
The pizzeria restaurant is in Wharton, some place
nearby, but I couldn’t say where.

Rose says you like the food, so, now
you should come to the restaurant.
To Rose I’m not a famous poet
not famous at all, just a hungry guy
who wears a camera and a knapsack
and a hat (sometimes) that says
Zamboni on it.

Rose is pretty in a young wife way
What is young to me, twenty, thirty,
forty, fifty or whatever.
But she says it’s the blond who works there
with her who’s memorable.
Rose doesn’t know how memorable
she herself is.
But come Monday she’ll be back at work
at the law office and I’ll head to work
in the city, and if I don’t get
to Wharton at all, we’ll meet again
at Dodge in two years.
And if by then I’m a famous poet
I’ll dash away with these books to sell
and stop at Mimmo’s to say hello.

-- Copyright © 2010 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.

From 2008 Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival

A Brief Respite For a Restive Spirit
Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival
The latest news on Mimmo's
******************
In 2012, the Dodge Poetry Festival was moved to Newark. Mimmo's had gone out of business.