Blocks

Murder’s just a mile from me but at least
bricks block bullets ’cause they can fly
many feet if unimpeded even in directions
distant from the target, just unintended
spray from an unconcerned finger
and unthinking mind, enough to dig
a divot in any nearby ground, green
or otherwise, or even softer skin all the way
through—rip and tear—to the empty other side.

Tour

Brother wine will accompany me
into a deep red evening, hours of elevation
above the average plain, a tethered balloon
from which to look down upon my usual self
—not in disdain—only a note of amusement
the distance allows, a perspective eagle-keen
the liquid lens grants me for this interval
of what I would not designate inebriation
but rather illumination, born of mild liquor
and its lift from any quotidian situation
to this exalted air, the source one glass,
clarity maintained by the ease of moderation.

Turnover

The cancer ate up the proprietress some
years ago so the neighborhood presents
a different color when I make an infrequent
return to its cozy commercial streets
wherein stands her erstwhile coffee shop
still clad in its painted brick behind which hides
a magnolia beneath which to sit in agreeable
weather to enjoy the warm brew and green
leaves under her and her husband’s purview
now transferred to unknown others who
are now imposing a novel rule and regimen hued
to their choice but under the identical shade.

XXX

John Zedolik is an adjunct English professor at Chatham University and Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, and has published poems in such journals as Abbey, The Bangalore Review, Commonweal, FreeXpresSion, Orbis, Paperplates, Poem, Poetry Salzburg Review, Third Wednesday, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In 2019, he published a full-length collection, entitled Salient Points and Sharp Angles (WordTech Editions), which is available through Amazon, and in 2021 published another collection, When the Spirit Moves Me (Wipf & Stock), which consists of spiritually-themed poems and is also available through Amazon. He recently published his third collection, Mother Mourning (Wipf & Stock), again, available on Amazon.