Back to Poetry - Margaret Robinson

 

Dee-Gee

 

 

it lodges

near the palatal ridge

 

bangs off the teeth

like a sledge

 

lays down the law

a tough judge

 

stops traffic with a badge

at a bridge

 

a curmudgeon who sins

with hot fudge

 

leaves a chocolate smudge

on the fridge

 

swats midges

collects buckets of  sludge

 

dee-gee

for edge, for grudge

 

 

 

What Place Is This?

 

 

A colleague offers a lift home after work.

Though I don’t like her much, I accept.

Others take seats in her white mini-van.

We don’t talk.  It’s a warm afternoon,

sunlight starting to slant, the transition

from right now to later than I thought.

 

After a short drive, the van stops.  I can’t

take you all the way.  I recognize a street

sign, hop out, content.  Strolling beneath

trees, I swing my purse, a red wicker basket

with a hinged top.  Couples eat at sidewalk

cafes.  Chrysanthemums curve in clay pots.

 

A shaded park above a beach: anywhere

you’ve ever sat with friends, or held hands,

or watched the sun sink, the stars come out.

I see children playing.  Waves lap and slip.

Though happy, I notice I’ve lost my purse –

the one I took to my grandmother’s funeral -

 

and I’m not where I thought.  This might be

New York?  I pat a pocket, locate my keys,

need a place with a phone, to make a call,

find a taxi or bus.  A nearby hoagie shop,

only one customer. The apron-wrapped

woman has a kind face.  I watch her spread

 

mayo, scatter lettuce shreds, so crisply green

I could weep.  Finished, she smiles.  You’re next.

What would you like?  I say, I’ve lost my purse

and my way.  Is this Manhattan?  Could I use

your phone?  I need to get home to Swarthmore,

Pennsylvania.  I think – where on Earth is that?