3 poems by Jesse Cameron Alick, East Coast Editor

In the Park San Souci, Potsdam -SK

1.  Alpha Male

You miss your dog
So we bark at each other
Back and forth
All night long
Under the tropical moon
Until people wonder
How we could ever be friends
In the first place.
We’re just both used to getting what we want.
Some things in life really are genetic.

Hard as you can
You smack the back of my head
When I stand, you punch me in the leg.
For three weeks we continue this game,
Wandering the streets of
Manhattan, Brooklyn and Grenada.
And it’s too much time to be with anyone,
But the morning you leave
I miss you like I haven’t seen you in years.
Still arrogance rises in me
Numbing my limping leg
Silencing my mourning howl:
I am a king: the ruler of all I see.
Leader of the pack.
But you my brother,
Are the only one
I’d ever turn my kingdom over to.
You’re the only one
Who could ever rule it properly

2.  Shadow at the Bed

Let me be a shadow
Standing at the foot of your bed
Darkness like red wine
Stretching over
Protection and warmth
When those things are totally absent
A dreamless sleep
God I wish I had more to offer
But the hot summer days are over
The last miracle has gone
and the bright sun of autumn
Is just an illusion

A bed
A blanket
An ear
Perhaps a touch of grace
Will bless us both
God knows we deserve it
If we hold on
We’ve got to hold on

3.  Not Friends

I sit beside an Atlantic ocean
Of moments spent with you
Cultivating heat
As the seasons disobey -
Cultivating low air pressure
Or anything else
That might be able to cause
Water to evaporate.
I won’t lie to you – it’s slow going.
Progress is measured in inches, not miles.
And each time it rains I’m back to square one.
The rain!
Black, constant, cold,
The dribbling of a mad god
Hell bent
On keeping you.
But eventually I do make progress.

The truth is swallowing tacks,
Hurt to heal, the strongest medicine.
All the worshipping, the praise, the favors,
Spill into a stream, that lead, like all things, away.
So I suppose there are good days!
Good days – yes.
Green tea, work, weed and more work.
Bad Sci Fi and a glass of wine spent with
Someone who is actually my friend

…

Jesse Cameron Alick is poet, playwright and Zen Master. Jesse works as the Artistic Director for Subjective Theatre Company (www.subjectivetheatre.org), is a playwright with Ensemble Studio Theater’s Youngblood program (www.youngbloodnyc.org) and is the Executive Assistant to the Artistic Director at the Public Theater (www.publictheater.org) and is Assistant to the playwright Suzan-Lori Parks. He lives in Brooklyn and is totally enamored with interesting people.