Richard Fein
The Proper Disposal of Clutter
Yes the Pieta was within the marble all along,
and Michelangelo was a magician with his chisel,
but beneath master and masterpiece
lay the talus and scree of a thousand stillborn Pietas.
And legions of unborn Hamlets
were aborted on crumpled paper tossed into Shakespeare’s trash.
Even grade Z meat chucked from Emeril’s Cajun kitchen
can be seasoned and stewed for gourmet tastes.
These maestros of shards, orts, and leavings,
these discerning demiurges of odds from ends,
these dumpster craftsmen, junk heap artisans,
prestidigitators of factory seconds,
who fashion aesthetics out of ashes,
we should all be in awe on their rag-picker genius.
And so each time you spring-clean worn-out possessions,
don’t haggle them away on flea market tables,
but leave those castoffs on the curbs
where soon to be discovered unknown artists
prowl skid row streets for inspiration.
Richard Fein was a finalist in The 2004 New York Center for Book Arts Chapbook Competition, A Chapbook of his poems was published by Parallel Press, University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has been published in many web and print journals such as Cordite, Cortland Review, Off Course, Reed, Southern Review, Roanoke Review, Green Silk Journal, Birmingham Poetry Review, Mississippi Review, Paris/atlantic, Canadian Dimension, Black Swan Review, Exquisite Corpse, Foliate Oak, Morpo Review, Ken*Again Oregon East, Southern Humanities Review, Morpo, Skyline, Touchstone, Windsor Review, Maverick, Parnassus Literary Review, Small Pond, Kansas Quarterly, Blue Unicorn, Exquisite Corpse, Terrain Aroostook Review, Compass Rose, Whiskey Island Review, Oregon East, Bad Penny Review, Constellations, The Kentucky Review, Muddy River , And Many Others.
The Proper Disposal of Clutter
Yes the Pieta was within the marble all along,
and Michelangelo was a magician with his chisel,
but beneath master and masterpiece
lay the talus and scree of a thousand stillborn Pietas.
And legions of unborn Hamlets
were aborted on crumpled paper tossed into Shakespeare’s trash.
Even grade Z meat chucked from Emeril’s Cajun kitchen
can be seasoned and stewed for gourmet tastes.
These maestros of shards, orts, and leavings,
these discerning demiurges of odds from ends,
these dumpster craftsmen, junk heap artisans,
prestidigitators of factory seconds,
who fashion aesthetics out of ashes,
we should all be in awe on their rag-picker genius.
And so each time you spring-clean worn-out possessions,
don’t haggle them away on flea market tables,
but leave those castoffs on the curbs
where soon to be discovered unknown artists
prowl skid row streets for inspiration.
Richard Fein was a finalist in The 2004 New York Center for Book Arts Chapbook Competition, A Chapbook of his poems was published by Parallel Press, University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has been published in many web and print journals such as Cordite, Cortland Review, Off Course, Reed, Southern Review, Roanoke Review, Green Silk Journal, Birmingham Poetry Review, Mississippi Review, Paris/atlantic, Canadian Dimension, Black Swan Review, Exquisite Corpse, Foliate Oak, Morpo Review, Ken*Again Oregon East, Southern Humanities Review, Morpo, Skyline, Touchstone, Windsor Review, Maverick, Parnassus Literary Review, Small Pond, Kansas Quarterly, Blue Unicorn, Exquisite Corpse, Terrain Aroostook Review, Compass Rose, Whiskey Island Review, Oregon East, Bad Penny Review, Constellations, The Kentucky Review, Muddy River , And Many Others.