Howard Fisch's first published poem, "God Bless You Too, Buffalo Bill," appeared in Kronos magazine alongside the work of Ezra Pound and W. C. Williams in 1947.  A long-standing member of the Hudson Pier Poets in New York City, Mr. Fisch lives and writes in Manhattan, but frequently travels abroad. Recent work appears in the January issue of Poetrymagazine.com.

JUST HOLD THE TESTER IN YOUR URINE STREAM

Give me some little gift, your glove or the like,
That I may think on you, man, and mourn the less.
But a love-token, lady, were of little avail.
                                                          --Sir Gawain

How do you know he cares?
Ray Wittgenstein, epithet musician, puts the stress on know.
As if we haven't stress enough.
Faith. Who's to fly in
and buttress my Chartres?
"Of course I care," he says.
It is a matter of affect: of course
and off course, what then?
You sing contentment,
I cry commitment.
Mick Jagger said he got no
satisfaction.
So why am I indelicately holding the tester
in the smallest chamber in God's house
and turning blue?

Copyright © Howrad Fisch, 1999.  All Rights Reserved.

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