DAVID RADAVICH

2 poems

RESISTANT

A mushroom grows

in the woods like a saint.

Nobody notices,

not even journalists.

Snow comes, and various sorts

of suffering, nature

speaks itself

into the whining world

of politics and TV.

Letters have not yet been

mailed to the victims,

nor has night

given away its black charms.

Where this all leads

I don’t know, but a walk

alone singing

over the dark hills

takes history

back—for a moment—

from the uninvited

the sun-worn

privateers who insist

on shaving

all landscapes.

LAST TRY
 

World, you

have broken my heart.

Not that I ever seriously

thought our affair

could be

reciprocated,

let alone consummated.

But even so—

bodies wedged under
 

rubble, forests denuded,

waterways poisoned, dictators

elected or never elected,

wealth beyond gates

of imagining.

How can I keep seeing

this planet

Saturday nights

or even weekdays

clutching a cold beer?

Our relationship’s dysfunctional,

truth be told, we need deep

counseling,

deeper than anything

I can imagine salvaging

right now.  What about you?

Do you hold any

hope for us,

together

in our common house?

Or is this another

jilting like so many others,

only bigger, beyond beggaring

everyone in sight?

I don’t want to stand

in line for food

or scream against barricades.

I’m too old

for beginnings.

I will try if you will. 

It takes steps on both sides

to dance to any mind

of music—

if you want music.

Let me know.

David Radavich is the author of Slain Species (Court Poetry Press, London), By the Way: Poems over the Years (Buttonwood Press, 1998), and Greatest Hits (Pudding House, 2000). He has also published a wide range of poetry and drama in anthologies and literary magazines. His plays have been performed across the U.S., including five Off-Off-Broadway productions, and in Europe.  His new book, America Bound: An Epic for Our Time, is forthcoming from Plain View Press in January 2007