qarrtsiluni

by Joe Zealberg

After Carlos Drummond de Andrade

In the middle of the bench there was a black patch and cane
there was a black patch and cane in the middle of the bench
there was a black patch and cane
in the middle of the bench there was a black patch and cane.

I’ll never forget that young veteran
clenched in my unblinking eyes.
I’ll never forget that in the middle of the bench
there was a black patch and cane
in the middle of the bench there was a black patch and cane.

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Joe Zealberg, MD attends an ongoing poetry workshop in Charleston, South Carolina with a group known as “The Long Table Poets,” under the direction of Richard Garcia. This is his second appearance in qarrtsiluni.